15 QX^v^LJa- 



9 *M 








I 

'■■■■ 
m 



BETTER BUSINESS :. BETTER FARMING ;. BETTER LIVING 



HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER 



TO THE 



SETTLERS ON THE PROJECTS 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES RECLAMATION SERVICE 



I. D. O'DONNELL 

SUPERVISOR OF IRRIGATION, U. S. R. S. 







WASHINGTON" 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1918 



BETTER BUSINESS .'. BETTER FARMING .-. BETTER LIVING 



HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER 



TO THE 



SETTLERS ON THE PROJECTS 



UNITED STATES RECLAMATION SERVICE 



I. D. O'DONNELL 

SUPERVISOR OF IRRIGATION, V. S. R. S. 




WASHINGTON 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1918 



/ 






^ 



J 




0. " f D# 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Foreword : Better business on the farm 

The farmstead : 

Planning the farmstead 9 

Farm planning by States 10 

Farm layouts 11 

Improving the farm : 

Diversified farming 14 

Thorough cultivation 15 

Fall plowing 16 

Business on the farm 17 

Trees 18 

Fences 20 

Care of farm ditches 20 

Fire protection on the farm 21 

Winter water for stock and domestic uses 22 

Burning straw stacks 24 

Save more , 25 

Farm implements: 

The disk 27 

Plowing and plows 28 

After plowing — Fitting the land — The level or float 30 

The harrow - 31 

Cultivators 33 

The roller 35 

Irrigation : 

Duty of water 36 

Irrigation heads 37 

Irrigation tools 39 

Irrigation laterals 40 

Checks and borders 41 

Irrigation of orchards and gardens 42 

Irrigation of cultivated crops 44 

Irrigation of small grains '. 45 

Irrigation of alfalfa " 46 

Irrigating wheat 48 

Irrigating potatoes 49 

A few crops: 

Good seed 50 

Prevent smut 51 

Corn 51 

Rye '.'. 52 

3 



4 CONTENTS. 

A few crops — Continued. p age 

Grain and grass 53 

Mixed pastures 53 

Supplement the pastures 55 

Warning — Sweet clover hay 55 

Beans 55 

Sugar beets 57 

Sugar-beet specials 58 

Live stock: 

Feed some live stock on the farm 60 

Cooperative or community breeding and production 61 

Better care and more live stock 64 

Pick your breeders 64 

Feeding and breeding 65 

Winter shelter for live stock 66 

Bedding * 68 

Winter losses 69 

Shade 69 

Wheeled stock shelter 69 

Water for live stock 70 

Bloat 71 

Sheep : 

Sheep on the irrigated farm 74 

Reasons for keeping sheep 79 

Sheep feeding 80 

Sheep rations 84 

Fattening sheep 87 

Hogs: 

Hogs on the irrigated farm 88 

Feeding hogs 89 

Hog rations 90 

Be your own butcher. 92 

Curing pork 93 

Hog cholera 94 

Dairy stock and dairying: 

Dairy cow rations 96 

Winter feeds 98 

Efficiency variations in cows 99 

Keep the calves 100 

Horses: 

Balky drivers 102 

Horse rations 103 

Poultry : 

Poultry rations 105 

Feeding pointers: 

Feeding alfalfa hay 106 

Feeding roots 108 

Feeding kindness 109 

Farm accounts: 

Inventory and financial statement Ill 

April accounts 113 

May accounts 114 

June accounts 117 



CONTENTS. 5 

Farm accounts — Continued. Page. 

July accounts 118 

August accounts 119 

September accounts 120 

October accounts 121 

November accounts 122 

December accounts and inventory 124 

Cash accounts 126 

Personal accounts 127 

Labor account 128 

Hog accounts 128 

Dairy accounts 130 

Horse accounts 133 

Hay account 134 

Grain accounts 135 

Farm accounts, Hesper Farm 135 




Dairy cows on a reclamation project. 



FOREWORD. 



BETTER BUSINESS ON THE FARM. 

The advancement of the interests of the farmers in any country 
depends upon the adoption and the application of the principles of 
the formulae — better business, better farming, and better living. 

I put the formula? in the order of their ranking importance. We 
are investing millions of dollars in teaching the science of better 
farming; we are seeking the means of better living for the farmer, 
but to realize the benefits of better farming and better living we 
must be religious in our efforts to instill in the minds of the Ameri- 
can farmers the necessity for and the means of acquiring and apply- 
ing the principles of better business. 

The science of better farming and the plans for better living will 
not avail unless the foundation — better business — is carefully in- 
grained in our scheme of agriculture. 

Before the days of our excellent transportation facilities each 
farming community could control its markets and general business 
by the application of a very simple system— of exchange, sale, and 
purchase. Since the advent of good transportation facilities no 
agricultural community in this country is independent of any other 
section of the country or of the world in general. Prices for our 
products are fixed by the prices available in the large business cen- 
ters and our markets are open to invasion by farmers from other 
sections who can produce our products more cheaply and better in 
quality. • 

Better business on the farm reaches into every item of farm life. 
The layout of the farm with its buildings and fields should be 
planned as a manufacturing plant is planned — for efficiency. The 
rotation of crops to be followed should be planned with an eye to 
definite maximum results; the breeds of live stock to be handled 
should be chosen on the basis of potential profits; the community 
spirit, or the association with fellow farmers, should be fostered in a 
businesslike manner because it is good business; communication 
with the general business world — or what is generally known as 
boosting — should be done aggressively by the farmers, for good 

boosting is good business. 

7 



8 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

Because our farmers have in the past failed to be good business 
men there has sprung up in this country a class called middlemen 
who take it upon themselves to do the business the farmers should 
do, and these middlemen have year by year taken more and more 
from the farmer and from the consumer of the farmer's products 
in return for the unproductive services rendered. Farmers, by com- 
bining their resources, should be able to sell well that which they 
sow and reap. 

In the beginning the farmer should realize there are certain farm 
products for which there is continuous demand in his section of the 
country and for which he can always receive fair prices. He should 
join with his neighbors and all should equip themselves to produce 
those products in quantity and of quality that will insure good re- 
turns. 

Hundreds of farmers in every section of this country are to-day 
devoting their time and investments to the production of crops 
which, though they yield fairly well, do not bring the farmers 
profits. Farmers should know what crops pay and what crops do 
not pay. They should apply to their business of farming the 
methods that are used in successful manufacturing plants — they 
should keep books with every department of the farm work. 

Ascertain what crops or produce pay best in your section and then 
boost those products and boost your section of the country as the best 
place on earth for those products. Do not be afraid to make a noise 
about your products if you have products of the right quality. 

The science of successful manufacturing consists of taking raw 
materials and making them into finished products that are required 
and desired by the public. Every farm should be a manufacturing 
plant. Every farmer should market not his raw materials, but a 
finished product that the public wants. By so doing he will receive 
the reward for producing the raw materials and the reward for 
making them into the finished product. The farmer may produce 
these finished commodities by feeding his grain, forage or root crops 
to live stock. His manufacturing plant may consist of dairy stock, 
hogs, sheep, beef cattle or poultry. Or, he may associate with his 
neighbors and operate a canning factory, an evaporating plant or 
may organize a creamery and cheese making association. 

The idea of making every farm a manufacturing plant is well 
covered by the maxim, " Eaise all you feed and feed all you raise." 

When the farmers of this country become better business men you 
will see them doing better farming and enjoying better living. The 
business man on the farm will adopt scientific farming methods for 
business reasons, and he will improve his social condition for busi- 
ness reasons. The most important thing farmers of to-day should 
strive for is better business on the farm. 



THE FARMSTEAD. 



PLANNING THE FARMSTEAD. 

If each farmer would keep a record of the farm work for a year 
he would likely find that the number of days actually spent in the work 
which returns the main farm income is small. During the months 
from March to November the principal farm work is accomplished 
and the bulk of the work is usually crowded into about three of these 
months. Of these three months not every day is a working day, due 
to bad weather. The result is that the farmer is confronted with the 
task of squeezing through a maximum of work in short periods, 
when everything must go as planned or loss occurs. It is in these 
periods of stress or what our efficiency experts call the " peak load," 
that a well-planned farmstead and farm are appreciated. Then it is 
we determine whether every building on the farm is constructed for 
efficiency ; whether each building is located in the right direction or 
at the right distance from every other building; whether the feed 
lots, the garden, the poultry yard, and other such subdivisions are 
properly located and the stock handled to the best advantage. The 
arrangement of the farmstead is just as important to the farmer as is 
the arrangement of the factory to the manufacturer. Manufacturers 
are planning with the view of reducing labor and costs. They are 
learning to start raw material in one end of a building and bring a 
finished product out the other end with never a backward movement 
or a moment's delay in the procedure. 

If you are planning new buildings, plan them for efficiency and 
locate them for efficiency. Plan them just as if every day in the 
year would be a busy day when every minute of time and every 
step is valuable. 

Planning for efficiency does not mean an unattractive farm lay- 
out — rather, an attractive one. 

Plan well, for planning takes but a short while and you will use 
your farmstead constantly for many years. 

We hear much talk these days of keeping the boys and girls on the 
farm, of holding their interest in the farm life. If you are planning 
a new house, a new barn, a layout of feed lots, a poultry house, or a 
change in your field boundaries, why not ask your boys to help in 

9 



10 



HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 



the planning! 1 It may be your boys and girls have been away to 
school and secured ideas of what is economical, attractive, and con- 
venient in buildings, or in farm planning in general. They may be 
more consistent than you in reading the farm papers and able to go 
you one better on some phases of farm planning. Let them help with 
the planning. Anything that embodies their ideas will be of more in- 
terest to them. They will strive to make their ideas successful and 
they will be slow to leave the farm that they have helped to plan — 
likewise slow to leave the home where their ideas are appreciated and 
their contentment encouraged. 

FARM PLANNING BY STATES. 

Movements have been under way several years in a number of 
States to promote better farm planning and farmstead building. It 
is argued that in these times of 
increased farm income the farmer 
should invest a good part of the 
increase in better buildings and 







V 














|f «"«•■> 










fy 














y w * 


sa. 








\ 




K* 


261 


M 


U 




Fig. 1. — A 160-acre farm with farmstead, 
facing east. Note connection of cattle 
yard with large fields, and of hog yard 
with small fields. 



Fig. 2. — Eight-acre farmstead, facing east : 
1, house ; 2, well ; 3, poultry house ; 
4, watering trough ; 5, main barn ; 
6, machine shed; 7. hog house ;S, corn 
crib ; 9, granary. 



modern conveniences, which will increase the value of his labor and 
the comfort and welfare of the family. 

The 1914 Minnesota Farmers' Institute Annual is a farm home 
number, and in this number is shown a farmstead layout which is 
worth reproduction and is here given. 

This farmstead utilizes about 8 acres of a 160-acre farm. On our 
various irrigation projects this plan would need some revision to be 
suited to conditions, but it shows a convenient, attractive layout, 
which will give some ideas to those planning new farmsteads or 
changing existing ones. 



THE FARMSTEAD. 



11 



FARM LAYOUTS. 

There is presented here a suggestion for the layout of a 40-acre 
irrigated farm, planned to permit diversified farming — crop rotation 
and live-stock handling. 

The plan provides 2£ acres for buildings, lots, gardens, etc.; 2^ 
acres for alfalfa hog pasture; and two tracts of 2£ acres each for 
permanent mixed pasture. These small tracts are connected by a lane 
which in turn connects the four fields which are laid out for crop 
rotation. These fields may or may not be divided by fences. 

The farmstead, or buildings and grounds, is placed in the north- 
east corner of the farm where the irrigation water is received, this 

K 20 rods — : -* 



2^ ACRES 

PERMANENT 

MIXED 

PASTURE 



MUM 

'FIELD NO.|1 
! ^ACRES 
| I FIELD I 
I | CROP | 
I ROTATION 

r i : I 



! I 



! I 



2'/ z ACRES 

PERMANENT 

MIXED 

PASTURE 



FIELD NO. 2 
1% ACRES 

FIELD 

CROP 
ROTATION 




2/ 2 ACRES 

BUILDINGS 

LOTS 

GARDEN 

ORCHARD 



11889 

|i||i|7^|wcresi| i 
'iI'I'i.ifk&dvii'i 

I I , CRttS, 



rq'taiti 

m 



U i Mi 



If 

Hi 






i 
1 

! 



being the high corner of the farm, and the water may be handled 
with convenience from the farm headquarters. 

It is assumed that the slope of this farm is regular and to the 
south and west. The small pasture tracts should be well leveled 
and irrigated by the check system. The layout of the farm ditches 
is shown on the drawing. If the land were well leveled and of a 
good texture for irrigation, the border system, as shown in field 
No. 1, could be used to advantage, the borders being from 40 to 50 
feet in width. If the land is of a sandy type and a good head of 
water is available, the check system, as indicated for field No. 2. 
could be used, using checks of a little less than 2 acres each. 

For land of less level character and where the flooding from 
lateral system of irrigation is followed the lateral system as indicated 
for field No. 3 is used. These laterals would be spaced from 50 to 



12 



HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER 



150 feet apart, depending upon the character of the soil and the head 
of water available. For land of coarse texture, where the supply of 
water is limited, the furrow system, as indicated on field No. 4, should 




be used. The length of run to be determined by the head of water 
and the. texture of the soil — on the drawing herewith the run is indi- 
cated at 10 rods. 

In handling water on this layout the water could be quickly 
handled to any portion of the farm, and at night the head could be 



THE FARMSTEAD. 13 

divided between one or more of the pasture tracts and the particular 
field crop being irrigated. Some arrangement along the west and 
south boundaries would be necessary to pick up waste water and pre- 
vent damage to the neighbors' fields. 

It is recognized that this plan takes advantage of easy conditions, 
conditions much better than the average water user has to contend 
with. But it is submitted for the purpose of bringing out sugges- 
tions from water users or questions regarding the layout of farms 
in special cases. 

Opposite is a layout for an 80-acre farm where the slope and 
general conditions favor the farmer in every respect. 

The farm is divided to provide two 20-acre fields which may be 
used for the field crops in a general crop rotation; two 10-acre fields 
for crop rotation uses; 10 acres for permanent pasture; 5 acres for 
cultivated crops; 2| acres for hog pasture; and 2| acres for buildings 
and grounds. 

The permanent pasture could be further divided into two tracts 
to permit of continuous use by irrigating one part at a time. The 
other two 10-acre tracts could be diverted to use for permanent 
pasture in turn if desired. The 5-acre tract could be used perma- 
nently if desired for the production of crops to be harvested by 
hogs or sheep. The length of farm lane necessary to connect up all 
these fields is small and no great distance is traveled in reaching any 
field on the farm. 

The irrigation water is shown as entering the field at the northeast 
corner and the slope is south and west. It would be necessary to 
run a small farm ditch across the north end of the farm to provide 
irrigation for the east 20 acres. The main farm ditch would extend 
down the east side of the farm and carry water for the 60 acres in 
the four larger fields. 



IMPROVING THE FARM. 



DIVERSIFIED FARMING. 

The farmer on irrigated lands should, where possible, practice a 
system of diversified farming. Diversified farming naturally follows 
irrigation. In humid regions you have to grow crops to conform to 
the rainfall, while by irrigation yOu can conform your moisture to 
the crops. Irrigation is naturally more expensive. Lands cost more, 
maintenance and operation charges have to be met, besides the cost 
of distributing the water on the land. 

For these reasons the farmer should take advantage of the many 
benefits that arise on the irrigated farm. He can grow crops from 
early spring until late fall. He can plan for early crops, midsum- 
mer crops and late fall crops, as he has the moisture at his control. 
Some crops need and do better with a great amount of moisture, 
and others require very little. In a great many cases the farmer can 
grow one, two and three crops on the same land in one season. He 
can, after an early crop of alfalfa or clover, grow a crop of seed, or 
after a crop of early wheat or oats, he can irrigate and grow a 
splendid crop of pasture for fall at light expense. He can sow rape 
in small grain in the spring, or in corn at last cultivation and have 
splendid sheep and hog pasture for fall. He can, to good advantage, 
irrigate after harvesting early grain for fall plowing and sow rye 
for fall and spring pasture, and still have a green crop to plow 
under in the spring for fertilizer. 

By having diversified crops he will not need to irrigate his place 
all at one time. By late fall irrigation he can save one irrigation 
the following season. Early vegetables can be followed by late 
garden stuff. Celery will do well following early potatoes. Early 
grains can be harvested so as to sow fall wheat on the same ground. 
Some crop can and should be grown in the orchard, especially the 
} r oung orchard. Late fall irrigation is good for the orchard in the 
North, and winter irrigation is recommended in the South. More 
trees are killed by droughts in the winter in eastern Montana than in 
summer. 
14 



IMPROVING THE FARM. 15 

No farm large or small has a complete system of diversified farm- 
ing without some stock — cattle, sheep, . hogs or poultry — and the 
kind should be governed by local conditions, market, etc. In fact, 
the whole diversified system can be planned to fit the whims or likes 
of the man on the land. It is an old saying that fun is work that you 
like. So why not plan your farm work so as to have some fun? 

THOROUGH CULTIVATION. 

The most important part of better farming is better preparation 
of the soil. All the other essentials of good farming fall down if the 
matter of thorough cultivation or preparation of the soil is neglected. 
Thorough cultivation will sometimes produce a crop for the farmer 
even though he has insufficient moisture and a poor season. 

Now, the question is, what is thorough cultivation. Thorough 
cultivation begins with good plowing. Then follows the question, 
what is good plowing. Plowing, though seemingly a simple matter, 
is the most important operation in the tillage of the soil. Upon it 
to a great degree depend the nature of the later operations and the 
frequency and extent to which they will be required. In fact, unless 
the soil is plowed in the best manner possible, and at the right time, 
the preparation of the land for growing a crop will require additional 
labor and cost. It may even be impossible to prepare a good seed- 
bed when plowing is done under adverse conditions. 

It has been demonstrated in several States by a series of experi- 
ments, especially in old ground, that deep plowing gives better results 
than shallow plowing; that soil plowed seven to eight inches deep 
will average 25 to 35 per cent better crops than soil plowed four or 
five inches deep. 

Plowing should be done in nice, straight, and even furrows, with 
the stubble or whatever aftermath there is on the surface well turned 
under, so that it will not come to the top of the ground when worked 
with harrow or disk. 

Back furrows should be turned out, then plowed back, so that there 
is not three or four feet in width of land under the back furrow 
which has not been plowed. Also, after making the dead furrow 
there should be a couple of light furrows turned back so as not to 
leave a deep dead furrow. 

If two plows are being used see that they both turn the same kind 
of a furrow ; it will save labor in leveling. 

In spring plowing it is important that the plow be followed at 
once with some implement — harrow, disk, roller, or planker. In this 
way you can conserve moisture and at the same time the ground will 
work up better than at any time later. 



16 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

If possible, spring plowing should be disked before plowing. It 
will hold your soil in nice shape for plowing much longer than if 
not done, and what is more important, it will have worked the part 
of the furrow that most needs working — that is, the bottom part. 

The general impression is that it is the top two or three inches of 
the seed bed that should be in good shape, while in fact it is the 
bottom two or three inches of the seed bed that must be well worked 
and in good shape. 

Any good cultivation requires at least one double disking, and in 
most cases two double diskings are better; then at least one double 
harrowing; then the leveler; and again the harrow followed by the 
pi anker or roller. 

The leveler should be run crosswise of the plowing so as to fill dead 
furrows and take sown back furrows. Generally each implement 
should be run crosswise or diagonally to the previous working. 

The field should be left about one week to permit settlement of the 
soil before seeding. In case a rain should occur during this time the 
harrow should be used again. 

It is well, in case the soil is fairly loose, to run the roller just ahead 
of the drill as well as just after it. There are times when it is well 
to roll just as the grain is coming up, especially if the soil is inclined 
to crust or in case there has been a rain. 

It is not practicable to state in a general article just what any one 
farmer should do with his own particular soil. The above is a fair 
outline under favorable conditions. Under adverse conditions 
thorough cultivation may mean as much as double the work outlined 
to secure satisfactory results. 

In closing, have in mind that the bottom of the furrow is the im- 
portant part. To put the bottom part of the furrow in good shape 
is the reason for the major portion of the work described in the 
foregoing. 

FALL PLOWING. 

Fall plowing has advantages which should not be overlooked these 
days of high prices and scarcity of labor. 

Heavy soils for spring seeding should always be fall plowed. Such 
soil may be plowed more deeply in the fall than is safe in the spring ; 
also it may be plowed when more wet or more dry than is permissible 
in the spring. 

Trash turned under in the fall has time to rot during the winter; 
trash turned under in the spring may not rot and, if it does not, will 
seriously interfere with the movement of water in the soil and with 
the root development of the crop. 



IMPROVING THE FARM. 17 

Soil turned up in the fall and left rough during the winter will 
catch and hold winter moisture. As a rule, fall plowing, through the 
holding of winter moisture, requires one irrigation less that does 
land which is spring plowed. This is an important item when labor 
is scarce and water is bought by the acre-foot. 

Soil left rough in the fall will be firmed down during the winter 
and pulverized by frost action to the extent that much less work is 
required to put it into shape for seeding in the spring than is the case 
with spring plowing. Oftentimes a single harrowing will put fall 
plowing in shape for seeding; with spring plowing three to five 
operations are necessary. Winter weather on plowed soil will do 
from $2 to $5 worth of work per acre for the farmer. 

Plowing and fitting soil is the hardest work farm horses have to 
do. Spring plowing comes at a time w T hen the horses are soft from 
winter idleness and is responsible for many of the ills that horse- 
flesh is heir to. Fall plowing comes at a time when the horses are 
hardened from the summer's work and when the work may be done 
more leisurely than in the springtime. 

Seed will germinate more quickly and evenly on fall plowing than 
on spring plowing. It is particularly important on irrigated land 
that the seed germinate evenly and the entire seeding grow evenly; 
irrigations may then be timed to good advantage. 

The one important disadvantage to fall plowing is that consider- 
able roughage which might be used for stock feed may be turned 
under. If a farmer has live stock sufficient to utilize every item of 
roughage on his farm he may seriously debate turning under rough- 
age early in the fall. In the main, however, the advantage in this 
connection lies with fall plowing, as the gain in production through 
fall plowing will more than offset the loss of the roughage ploAvod 
under. 

BUSINESS ON THE FARM. 

Now that it is generally understood that the farmer is taking to 
up-to-the-minute business methods in his farm work it would be 
interesting to know just what percentage of our farmers have the 
first requisite of business on the farm, namely, a business office. 

Business methods will have a short shrift on the farm where the 
farmer carries his records in his mind or a vest-pocket book or in a 
corner of the kitchen cupboard. Some place about the house there 
should be a corner, nook, or room that can be given over entirely to 
the farm's business. 

It is not necessary or desirable to put into this all the flubdubs in 
the way of office fixtures. There should be a table or a desk where 
the work may be done accurately and -conveniently. If it is possible 
5672S°— IS 2 



18 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

to have a roll-top, with pigeonholes and drawers, so much the better, 
for then the records may be safely stowed away in good order. 

Next in order comes a filing system of some kind. This may be a 
homemade box divided alphabetically by heavy cardboard guides, or 
it mnj be the small indexed letter file which is commonly sold at sta- 
tionery stores for about 50 cents. This file is important, for it pro- 
vides for the orderly keeping of letters received and copies of letters 
sent and makes the finding of such letters easy. 

Typewritten letters from farmers are becoming more common. A 
good second-hand typewriter may be secured for from $20 to $50. A 
typewritten letter gives the impression that the farmer is up to date 
and simplifies the making of copies of letters through the use of 
carbon paper. Copies should be kept of all important letters and all 
contracts, agreements, and other important papers signed by the 
farmer, and these should be carefully filed away where they may be 
found readily. 

Then there should be the farmer's scrapbook, into which should be 
placed all the hints and helps which are to be found in all the agri- 
cultural papers and periodicals. 

Last but not least is the bookcase. Every farmer acquires books 
and pamphlets pertaining to his business, and these should be kept 
convenient for ready reference. The bookcase need not be the ex- 
pensive sectional affair. Make your own bookcase, to fit into the 
space available for it and of the size that meets your requirements. 
v The old saying, " Black a man's boots and you keep him out of 
the mud," is pertinent in this connection. Give a man business tools 
and you keep him out of unbusinesslike practices. 

TREES. 

One of the principal criticisms we still hear about our irrigation 
projects and the West in general is that there is a lack of trees. 
People coming from the East or the Central States, where trees are 
plentiful and of great variety, find something lacking in the West 
and that something is trees. 

People living in well-wooded sections or the farmers who have good 
wood lots should feel thankful for their good fortune these days when 
Ave read of the great suffering in eastern cities because of lack of 
coal for fuel. 

There are several reasons why the people in Western States have 
not heretofore started more trees, the principal reason being that 
the growing of trees in semiarid sections requires considerable care 
and heretofore our farmers have been busy with the necessities of 
homesteading. 



IMPROVING THE FARM. 19 

There is no reason why our projects should not now see a general 
movement in the way of tree planting. Trees may be selected for 
several purposes. If shade alone is the consideration, some of the 
quick-growing varieties of shade trees may be selected. If beauty, 
shade, and profit combined are desired, a wide range for selection 
is found in the fruit and nut trees. It should be borne in mind, 
however, that these trees require much more care than trees grown 
for shade only. 

In some sections of this country and in several of the European 
countries it is quite common to see the roadsides lined with fruit 
trees, which make a most attractive sight at blossoming time and give 
much comfort and profit as the fruits ripen. The custom of border- 
ing lanes and fence lines with fruit or nut trees is becoming more 
common. 

The value of shade to live stock is never overlooked by the wise 
stockman. Brood mares, cows, sows, and ewes particularly require 
shade while rearing their young, and good shade to which they can 
retire from the sun-stricken and insect-infested pastures during 
the heat of the day saves many dollars on the feed bill. 

Planting trees closer together than the permanent stand should be 
permits thinning them out as they reach the size where they are in- 
clined to crowding, and the trees cut out may be utilized for fuel or 
posts or for other purposes. This is the best method of insuring a 
good stand, as it is easier to thin the trees out to a good stand than it 
is to put in new trees to make up a stand. 

In some European countries numbers of towns have had town 
forests, large tracts of land near the towns being owned by the towns, 
and the returns in the way of fuel and materials from these forests 
often paid all the running expenses of the towns so that no taxes 
were levied. It is not likely that this plan will soon be tried out 
by American towns, but it shows the practical value of trees. 

Individuality in the selection of trees and the arrangement of them 
in planting is desirable, but it is believed that the general improve- 
ment of a community can be best advanced if a limited number of 
varieties be planted and the choice be confined to the varieties known 
to do well in the locality. Some trees, the cottonwood notably, have 
been found unsatisfactory for town planting, because of the roots 
growing into and filling sewer lines and the nuisance caused by the 
cotton given off by the trees. Some towns have enacted ordinances 
prohibiting the planting of such trees. 

In a matter of this kind a community can afford to wait a little 
time for the maturing of trees which, though more slow of growth, 
are more satisfactory and longer lived. In some cases it has been 
found practical to plant alternately a slow-growing and a fast- 



20 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER 

growing tree and as the slow-growing trees reach sufficient size to 
furnish shade and beauty, the quick-growing trees are cut out. 

It is unnecessary to point out all the advantages of tree planting. 
Most people realize these advantages, but just naturally postpone 
planting the trees. Every one of our projects should have an arbor 
day, to be recognized by the entire project each year, when it would 
be the custom to set out trees and shrubs of a permanent nature. 

FENCES. 

One of the unfortunate things which can happen to a farming 
community is that of acquiring a habit of building poor fences or of 
putting into effect laws which tend to make good fences unnecessary. 
A good fence is the best crop insurance a farmer can buy. It is poor 
business policy which leads a man to pay a high annual premium 
for hail or tornado insurance and then half-heartedly build a patch- 
work fence which will not turn his own or his neighbor's stock. You 
can not farm to advantage without live stock, and you can not keep 
live stock without good fences. If your neighbor will not join you in 
building a stock-proof fence on the line between farms it would be 
cheaper for you to build the entire fence ; then you can handle live 
stock on all your fields, utilize all the feed you grow, and you will 
not have to lie awake nights wondering whether your stock is in your 
neighbor's fields or whether your neighbor's may be ruining your 
crops. I believe more neighborhood quarrels have started from poor 
fences than from any other cause. There is no limit to the trouble 
brought about by poor fences. The following is quoted from an old 
almanac and is as true to-day as when written generations ago : 

He that is careless and negligent about his fences will be so in most other 
things. His life is a state of continued vexation, trouble, and irritation. How 
often he finds his crops destroyed, his breachy and unruly cattle impounded, 
with complaints of his injured neighbors perpetually ringing in his ears. He 
is hurried into lawsuits and unnecessary expense: and sees the Sabeans hunt 
his flocks and the Chaldeans trespass upon his inclosures ! Alas, he has no 
peace of mind ; how vexed, disquieted, tormented for the want of fences. 

CARE OF FARM DITCHES. 

How about the farm irrigation and drain ditches? No doubt the 
irrigation season just passed has found some faults in the layout, 
capacity, or efficiency of the ditches. Now is a good time to correct 
some of these faults. 

It is likely that one of the most serious drawbacks has been the 
presence of weeds in the ditches, hindering the flow of water and 
causing it to overflow low banks. More than likely these same ditches 
are now a mass of ripened weeds, depositing their seeds for a still 



IMPROVING THE FARM. 21 

more lusty growth next season. Gather up these weeds, with as 
little scattering of seeds as possible, and burn then. Make the piles 
for burning on spots where the most obnoxious weeds grow in order 
that their seeds will not be scattered and may be burned most 
effectively. 

Go over the ditches and, as far as is practicable at this time, 
remedy the weak spots. Build up low banks so the dirt will settle 
well before next irrigation season. Put in new or replace old checks 
where needed ; remove the silt from the bottom of ditches and use it 
to fill borrow pits or low places near by. Don't make the mistake 
of building the banks higher at points where the ditches collect silt ; 
you are making future trouble if you do. Keep the ditches cleaned 
out to the proper grade. 

The most important part of the irrigation work is done outside of 
the time you are actually irrigating. Eemoving obstacles to easy 
handling of water and having everything possible in full readiness 
makes for quicker, better, and cheaper irrigation. If you have a 
little time just before winter sets in, do some work on your ditches. 

FIRE PROTECTION ON THE FARM. 

If you live in the city, you spend a -considerable amount of money 
each year for fire protection. Your property tax covers your portion 
of the amount necessary to maintain the city fire department. If 
you live in the country, you probably spend little or nothing for fire 
protection, though your risks are considerable. True, most farmers 
have their buildings and contents insured against loss by fire, but not 
many farmers care to see their property go up in smoke for the 
amount of their insurance policies. 

Not only would a few simple precautions against loss by fire reduce 
the probability of fires, but the rates paid for insurance would be 
accordingly reduced. Fire insurance companies are quick to take 
advantage of lack of fire-protection facilities and to charge high rates 
for protection under such conditions ; also, they are reasonably quick 
to give credit, in the way of low rates, where the property owner 
provides some protection. 

Of course the best protection against fire is water under pressure 
and piped to all buildings. This may be provided by elevated tanks 
with suitable pipes,' or by power from an engine applied to a force 
pump. Climatic conditions will largely govern a choice between these 
two methods; where extreme cold weather occurs it may not be safe 
to put too much dependence on elevated tanks and a complex system 
of pipes. A force pump to be operated by hand and to which a hose 
may be attached will furnish protection to buildings close at hand. 



22 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

The objection to putting dependence on this outfit is that it is a " men 
only " proposition, and fires sometimes occur when the men folks are 
away from home. 

There are on the market a number of patented fire extinguishers, 
which may be carried by one person without much trouble. These 
extinguishers work on the chemical principle, and some of them do 
very satisfactory work; one or more of the best makes would be a 
good investment for a farmer. 

Every farm should have ready for instant use light and long lad- 
ders at both house and barns. A few fire-protection buckets, to be 
used only in case of fire, should be at both house and barns. Rail- 
roads, lumber companies, and similar business concerns keep barrels 
filled with water at convenient places for use in case of fires. 

Lightning rods play an important part in fire protection in sections 
where lightning is frequent. Do not let the old-time jokes about 
lightning-rod agents convince you that these rods have no utility. 
Fire insurance companies look at fire protection in a very practical 
way and the fact that they give better rates on houses protected by 
proper rods than on houses not so protected is some argument in 
favor of good lightning rods. 

Do not overlook the fire risk. Spend a few dollars to assist in 
making the lives of your family, your live stock, and your valuable 
property more secure. 

WINTER WATER FOR STOCK AND DOMESTIC USES. 

Every fall there come up the question and agitation for running 
water in the canals for stock and domestic uses after the close of the 
irrigation season. Securing the necessary water for these purposes is 
quite a serious problem on many of the projects. It appears to me, 
however, that the running of water in the canals for stock and do- 
mestic uses is the worst possible solution of this problem. 

It is now recognized that one of the most important difficulties in 
connection with irrigation is the seeping and water logging of the 
irrigated lands. The costs of draining water-logged lands have 
mounted up until we must admit drainage is a serious matter, and 
that we should avail of every means of removing the causes of drain- 
age. I believe the major portion of the water logging of lands is 
due to loss of water from canals and laterals. Experiments have 
shown conclusively that on some of the projects the loss of water in 
the canals amounts to from 15 to 50 per cent of the total taken into 
the head of the main canals. It is not necessary to go into details in 
this connection ; we all know that the escape of this high percentage 
of water from the canals creates a serious drainage problem. 



IMPROVING THE FARM. 23 

One of the most practical means of preventing the water logging 
of the land is to reduce the period of time during which water is run 
in the canals. If water for stock and domestic uses is run in the 
canals both before and after the regular irrigation season it is quite 
likely that the period of keeping water in the irrigation system is 
practically doubled. This means that the drainage burden is more 
than doubled, for whereas the soil can handle a reasonable amount of 
excess water every increase in this excess water multiplies the drain- 
age problem manyfold. In Montana and other sections where simi- 
lar conditions prevail, where the average annual rainfall is as much 
as 15 inches, it would be practicable to confine the irrigation season 
to about three months, or from about May 15 to August 15. This 
would mean a reduction of about one-third in the irrigation season, 
which would work a similar reduction in operation expenses and in 
wear and tear on the irrigation system. It would also mean less 
expenditures for drainage. The average cost of drainage on the 
projects is running as high as $10 per acre. A small portion of this 
drainage expense would put a good reservoir, cistern, or well on 
every farm under the projects. 

In order to reduce the period of operating the canals, it would be 
necessary to provide means of furnishing water for stock and domes- 
tic uses on some of the projects for at least half of the year. There 
are three practical means of supplying this water — storage reser- 
voirs, cisterns, or wells. 

It is quite common to find ponds with earth embankments con- 
structed on the lower portions of farms on a number of the projects. 
These ponds are very objectionable from both a sanitary and eco- 
nomic standpoint. The water becomes filthy and is made the breed- 
ing place for insect pests, and the water held in these ponds creates 
seepage on lands lower in elevation. 

I visited a farm on the Uncompahgre project in Colorado where 
the farmer had constructed a concrete-lined reservoir with a sloping 
end where the stock could reach the water. It was filled by gravity 
from the irrigation canal and the owner was enthusiastic about it. 
The concrete-lined reservoir is a great improvement over the ordinary 
pond. The disadvantage of an open reservoir is that ice forms on it 
during winter in the central and northern portions of the country, 
making it difficult for the stock to reach the water, to say nothing of 
the disadvantage, from a stock feeder's standpoint, of giving stock 
ice-cold water. However, if a reservoir is the best water supply you 
can secure, line it with concrete and provide an outlet so you can clean 
it out occasionally. A reservoir, concrete lined, to hold 600 to 800 
barrels of water should be constructed for not more than $200, the 
farmer performing most of the labor. This reservoir filled should 



24 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

supply water for 50 sheep or hogs, 10 horses, and 20 cattle for about 
4 months. 

A good cistern is better than an open reservoir. It is more expen- 
sive to construct, but it has the important advantage of furnishing 
water free from ice. The difference in favor of clean well or cistern 
water as against muddy or ice-cold water from a pond where as many 
as 100 head of stock are kept would pay for a good large cistern in 
one year. A cistern of about 100 barrels capacity should be con- 
structed for about $100, the farmer performing most or all of the 
labor. Cisterns to suit the varying requirements of the farmers will, 
of course, vary in cost with the sizes constructed, the cost of materials 
and the nature of the excavation made. The labor is by far the most 
important factor and this the farmer can usually do himself. 

Wherever it is possible to get good well water the farmer is justi- 
fied in going to considerable expense to secure it. On some projects 
the farmers are tapping the drainage ditches and securing fair stock 
water. On other projects where alkali is bothersome pipes or jointed 
tile are put down in a well which extends to below the alkali. On my 
farm I have several wells where I have driven pipe down about 40 
feet at a cost of $1 per foot, and I secure excellent water. 

By some method we can on each project avoid the running of 
water after the irrigation season for stock uses. We should by all 
means do this for the reasons I have stated. 

The engineers of the service will. I am sure, be glad to help set- 
tlers with designs or estimates for reservoirs or cisterns. 

BURNING STRAW STACKS. 

Every little while something happens to bring home the truth of 
the old song " We never miss the water till the well goes dry." While 
I think I have been as appreciative of plenty of good straw to use 
around the barns and yards as the average farmer, I confess I have 
never taken the trouble to figure out just what the value of straw is 
until very recently. A 20-ton straw stack was accidentally burned on 
Hesper Farm last fall and I have missed this straw very much. 
Burning straw on Hesper Farm is something out of the ordinary, 
and it has led me to compute the loss to the farm. 

The 20 tons of straw used through the barn or feed yards would 
have accumulated to 40 tons of manure in the spring. Forty tons of 
manure would fertilize 4 acres of land. A reasonable estimate of 
the increase in crops the first two years due to this fertilizing would 
be the equivalent of 3 tons of sugar beets per acre. Beets are worth 
a minimum of $6 per ton, which means that the loss of the straw 
stack is equivalent to a loss of $72 in crops. 



IMPROVING THE FARM. 25 

This does not take into consideration the loss of comfort to live 
stock in case plenty of bedding- is not available for the stables and 
for putting over wet places in feed yards. 

I am more then ever convinced that burning straw stacks is an 
expensive pastime. 

SAVE MORE. 

The idea uppermost in the minds of the farmers and those having 
to do with farming in this country may be expressed by the phrase 
" grow more." The agricultural papers, the agricultural teachers, 
and those perpetual advisers of the farmer — the bankers — are spread- 
ing the gospel of "grow more" in a way that gladdens the hearts of 
the concoctors of commercial fertilizers. It is true that the man 
who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before is a 
public benefactor and the ambition to increase the rate of production 
on our farms is a commendable ambition. But growing more is not 
a panacea which alone will cure all the farmers' troubles. It is ad- 
mitted that increased production is the basis of prosperity on the 
farm, but coupled with the idea of " grow more" should be the prin- 
ciple of " save more." 

It is not always the farmer who produces the heaviest crop yields 
per acre and who keeps the largest numbers of live stock who is the 
most prosperous farmer. We all know men who produce but ordi- 
nary crop yields and keep but a small number of farm animals, yet 
they prosper — they live well and not in a hurry. The principal differ- 
ence between these two types is that one is a producer only while the 
other has mastered something of the art of saving. The secret, 
which is not a secret, of continuous prosperity on the farm is "'save 
more." 

The significance of the phrase " save more " should not be re- 
stricted to the miserly hoarding of money. " Save more " properly 
includes the planning of the farm work and business to the end that 
the best possible use is made of the labor, equipment, and produce 
of the farm. The principle of " save more " mav in part be stated 
by " dont's " : 

Don't try to farm 160 acres when you can better farm 80 acres. 

Don't sacrifice quality for quantity in crops or live stock. 

Don't feed good quality feed to poor quality live stock. 

Don't feed high-priced feed to live stock and then leave the live 
stock unsheltered in all kinds of weatheT. 

Don't hire help to raise crops that don't pay for the raising. 

Don't hire help and then fail to furnish the help with suitable 
tools and implements with which to earn wages. 



26 



HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER, 



Don't buy good tools and implements and then fail to properly 
care for and shelter them. 

This list of " don'ts ? ' might be added to until it be doubled many 
times, and yet the principle of " save more " would not be entirely 
expounded. 

I have read of a club or association of farmers which was called 
the " No Wasters." The idea of this club was to prevent waste of 
all kinds on the farms of the members of the club. The farm of 
each member was visited by the club and causes of waste pointed out 
and remedies suggested. Think of what could be accomplished by 
such an organization, and there is need for just such an organization 
in each farming community. 

By all means try to " grow more.'" Don't be satisfied with ordi- 
nary yields, but remember that net results are what count, and to 
make the net result for each year right you must continuously and 
vigorously " save more." 1 



Who Cares for Dry Pastures? 




FARM IMPLEMENTS. 



THE DISK. 



Ordinarily I would begin with the plow, for plowing is generally 
understood to be the first important operation in preparation of the 
fields for seeding. I am, however, starting with the disk, for the 
reason that the use of this implement on the irrigated farm — on any 
farm — is very important as a preparatory step to plowing. 

For irrigation farming it is important that the soil be handled in 
such a manner that it will be kept in a physical condition favorable 
to use by plants of the moisture in the soil. When plowing time 
comes on the irrigated farm the soil dries out on top very rapidly 
unless preventive measures be taken. If the plowing is started when 
the soil is just right, it is likely to be breaking up in a cloddy condi- 
tion before the field is finished, leaving air spaces where a good, com- 
pact seed bed should be. Double disking the ground ahead of the plow- 
ing will thoroughly pulverize the surface and effectively prevent 
drying out of the soil; also, this pulverized surface is turned by the 
plow into the bottom of the furrow, making a perfect contact between 
the bottom of the furrow and soil turned by the plow. While this 
disking ahead of the plow appears to be extra work, it is really labor 
saved, as much less work is required to bring the plowed ground into 
good condition for seeding, and the farmer may be positive that the 
all-important seed and root bed is in first-class condition. 

A similar use of the disk following the grain binder prepares the 
ground for fall plowing, retaining the moisture in the soil until the 
grain is removed for threshing and opportunity given for plowing. 

Following the plow the disk may be used to good advantage in two 
ways. Set at an angle it will pulverize the surface, and followed 
by the harrow prepares a good top to the seed bed. Set to run 
straight or nearly so it acts as a packer to settle freshly plowed 
ground which is soon to be seeded. 

The disk is also a labor saver in putting in crops on land that has 
been in cultivated crops the year before. Here the farmer gets the 
advantage of crop rotation. By going from a cultivated crop to a 
small grain crop he is enabled to prepare the land in the spring with 

27 



28 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

the disk for seeding, which is a quick and easy operation as compared 
with the plow. 

If stubble ground is not to be fall plowed it should at least be gone 
over with the disk, turning under the scattered grain and weed seed 
which will be sprouted by fall rains and later winter killed. Other- 
Avise these seed would volunteer in the next year's crop and cause 
trouble. 

As outlined, the disk has its uses but it should not be substituted 
for the plow. It is a surface worker and does fine execution both be- 
fore and after the plow. Where it is necessary to turn the soil to a 
considerable depth the plow must be used. 

Cross disking does not give as satisfactory results as double disking 
or lapping the disk one-half its width. 

A number of companies manufacture disks for which they make 
various claims. All disks work on the same principle. An impor- 
tant item is the size of the disk. This implement operates with a 
combined cutting and revolving motion and the smaller in diameter 
the disk the more efficient it is in pulverizing the soil. From this it 
may be judged that preference should be given to the smaller disk. 
A 14-inch diameter gives good all-around service. The width of the 
disk will depend upon the amount of horsepower available. As this 
implement is worked at a time when speed is important it is well to 
get the widest size consistent with the available horsepower. 

Keep the disk sharp; it is impossible to get good work out of this 
implement when it is dull. 

PLOWING AND PLOWS. 

Plowing is the first important step in soil culture. As just de- 
scribed, a very advantageous preparation for plowing may be made 
by double disking ahead of the plow to hold the soil in moist condi- 
tion and insure the " fining " of the soil turned into the bottom of 
the furrow by the plow. 

As understood by most people, plowing the soil is done for the 
purpose of putting it into a condition favorable to plant growth. 
The loosening and mixing of the soil assist the proper action of the 
air and moisture in the soil and encourage the working of the plantr 
sustaining elements. If such conditions are to be brought about, it 
should be understood that unless plowing be done at the right time — 
or when the condition of the soil is right — no advantage is gained 
and much harm may be done. 

Various types of plows are on the market, each designed for some 
special condition or type of soil, and while these various kinds of 
plows may be used to advantage under varying conditions encoun- 
tered, it is more important to plow when the soil is right for plowing 



FARM IMPLEMENTS. 29 

than it is to pick out just the proper kind of plow to use. No kind 
of plow will leave wet land in good condition and no plow will bring 
hard, dry soil into good condition. 

A great deal of poor advice is current regarding the proper depth 
to plow. The old maxim of " Plow deep while sluggards sleep " is 
considered by some with the same enthusiasm that led a man to take 
an entire bottle of medicine at one dose on the theory that if a little 
is good more is better. A great deal of agitation for deep plowing 
exists without proper regard for the varying conditions of soils. 
Without doubt deep plowing has its great advantages under certain 
conditions and should be practiced. It is just as certain that there 
are conditions under which deep plowing is a serious mistake. Soils 
inclined to be light or sandy and containing plenty of humus may 
be plowed deeply with good results continuously. Heavy or clayey 
soils may be plowed deeply with good results if the farmer is willing 
to do the work necessary to bring deeply plowed heavy soils into 
good condition, which is not a light task. In some sections of heavy 
soil it is the custom to plow deeply, thoroughly work the surface of 
the plowed ground, and then plow again and work the surface again. 
The amount of humus or vegetable matter in the soil should to a 
great degree regulate the depth of plowing. Soil that contains no 
humus should not be brought to the surface in great amounts at any 
one plowing. 

Straight, clean furrows of even depth are very important items 
in good plowing. Crooked furrows make an irregular surface of the 
plowed ground, and where one furrow is deep and the next is shallow 
it is practically impossible to work the soil down to a good seed bed, 
as the hard surface in the bottom of the shallow furrow will prevent 
the drag, harrow, or disk from working down the soil in the bottom 
of the deep furrow adjoining. 

With the irrigation farmer it is important that the surface of 
fields be kept level, and in plowing no pronounced " back furrows " 
or " dead furrows " should be left to interfere with the handling of 
irrigation water. The two-way plow is a convenience in this connec- 
tion, as plowing may be started on one side of a field and continued 
a-cross the field without " back furrows " or " dead furrows." If the 
two-way plow is not used it will be necessary to leave irregularities 
where " lands " are started and finished, but these may be minimized 
if care is taken. In starting " lands " the " back furrow " should first 
be turned out and then turned back so that no unplowed strip will 
be left in the middle of each " land." 

To secure good results plows must be properly adjusted. The 
large companies manufacturing plows keep in their employ experts 
who have made special study of the adjustment and working of 
plows. It would not take one of those experts long to convince the 



30 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

average farmer that it takes some "know how" to adjust a plow to 
get the best results. When you buy a plow get the implement dealer 
to tell you all he knows about adjusting the plow to meet your con- 
ditions. On the proper adjustment of the plow depends the amount 
of horsepower necessary to pull the plow, and also the grade of work 
is much affected. 

The implement dealer in your locality can give you the best advice 
on the kind of plow to buy for handling your soils. Being a local 
man he is acquainted with local soil conditions, and it is up to him to 
sell you a plow that will work to your satisfaction. 

AFTER PLOWING— FITTING THE LAND— THE LEVEL OR FLOAT. 

If plowing is always done under ideal conditions, the work of fit- 
ting the land for seeding and irrigation is a simple matter. With our 
wide variations in soil and climatic conditions it is not possible to 
plow just when we would or to have the soil in just the right condi- 
tion. Under any condition, the first step after plowing is to give the 
land either a single or a double harrowing as the condition of the 
soil requires; this breaks up the chunks of soil and prepares a mulch 
which prevents the plowed and loose soil from drying out. The more 
quickly the harrow follows the plow the better are the results. 

Very few fields in irrigated sections are in the best possible condi- 
tion for irrigating. While the surface may appear level and regular 
to the eye, we all know from experience that the irrigation water 
will find high and low spots which will give trouble in distributing 
the water. If very prominent high or low spots exist the only cure 
is to cut off the high spots and carry the dirt to low places. A good 
tool for this work is the fresno scraper. 

For general leveling purposes the farm level or float is the most 
practical device. It is not intended to cut off high knolls or fill up 
deep holes, but following the use of the fresno scraper or following 
the harrow or disk on fairly level land it does fine work and is i 
labor saver. 

This level or float is made 16 or 18 feet in length and in width to 
suit the horsepower the farmer has available. A level 8 feet wide 
works well and makes a good load for 4 horses. One 4 feet wide may 
be handled with 2 horses, but the work is not so satisfactory as may 
be secured with the level of greater width. 

The level consists of 2 planks 2 by 10 inches, 16 or 18 feet long, 
set on edge like sled runners, with 3, 4, or 5 crosspieces of 2 by 10 
inch plank also set on edge to act as cutters. The bottom edge of 
the crosspieces should be flush with the bottom of the runners. The 
crosspiece placed across the front end of the level should slant for- 
ward a little at the top to prevent it digging in too much. The rear 



FARM IMPLEMENTS. 31 

crosspiece should be upright. There are differences of opinion as to 
whether there should be 1, 2, or 3 crosspieces ranged in the middle 
of the level to act as cutters. Some irrigators put in as many as 
three, spaced 2 to 3 feet apart. Personally, I favor a single cross- 
piece in the center of the level, on the theory that if the weight of 
the level is placed on a single bearing surface or cutter, that cutter 
will be more efficient than if the weight is distributed to several cut- 
ters. The center crosspieces should have a steel edge to prevent their 
wealing away. The level should be well braced and supplied with 
a plank down the center on which the driver can walk back or for- 
ward to assist the level in loading or unloading. 

After the land has been plowed and harrowed, the level should 
be run first at right angles to the direction of plowing and then in 
the direction of plowing. Good results are also secured by running 
the level diagonally across the field. 

It should be borne in mind that all the work done in leveling an 
irrigated field means labor saved and increased crop yields. Every 
low spot means just that much land which will be overirrigated. 
Every high spot means just that much land not sufficiently irrigated. 
Also, we all know the difference in labor between irrigating level 
land and uneven land. 

If, after going over the land once in each direction with the level, 
the surface of the field is still irregular, the land should be harrowed 
again to loosen up the surface and the operation with the level re- 
peated. The surface of the ground must be loose or the level will 
not do good work. 

A farm level or float is a device every farmer should be able to 
make. The materials sire not expensive. It will give years of serv- 
ice, and every operation with it will give good returns. If you can 
not have one of your own, cooperate with a neighbor and own one 
in partnership with him. 

THE HARROW. 

If the maxim, " Old age is honorable," holds good with farm im- 
plements as well as with men, then the harrow is by right honorable 
indeed. Centuries ago the worth of the harrow as a help in prepar- 
ing land for seeding was recognized, even though the harrow of 
antiquity was nothing more than a thorny brush which was dragged 
many times over the broken ground. Changes affecting the harrow 
have been in the form of the harrow only; the theories of its use 
have remained the same. One of the early improvements in the har- 
row was that of fastening two small trees or brushes together by a 
crosspiece at their butts and in this crosspiece were placed wooden 
pegs which stirred the soil as the harrow was dragged across the field. 



32 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

Following this there was the wooden frame with wooden pegs, made 
in much the same shape as the modern single-section harrow — though, 
of course, much more cumbersome. Then the wooden pegs were re- 
placed by iron pegs which stood the wear better, and later the form 
of the harrow was changed to resemble the letter A, and this A har- 
row was used for many generations and well into the memory of many 
of us of to-day. As our prairie lands were brought under cultiva- 
tion the demand for a harrow which would permit covering more 
ground per day resulted in the sectional harrow — made first with 
wooden frame and steel teeth and later with steel frame and teeth 
and equipped with levers by which the slant of the teeth and their 
penetration could be regulated. 

Like all farm implements, the harrow has its uses and abuses. If 
harrowing is do'ne at the right time and with the proper soil condi- 
tions the results are highly profitable, but harrowing at the wrong 
time or with improper soil conditions would better be left undone. 
When the soil is just right for harrowing every effort should be made 
to hurry the work. The great amount of ground which may be 
covered by the modern harrow suits it well to what is expected of it. 
If ground is harrowed when too wet the same damage as plowing 
wet ground results. The soil is in part " puddled " and its condition 
to help plant growth destroyed. Likewise, there is a condition of 
dryness of the soil when it is lost labor to harrow. Working up a 
very fine, dusty, and drifting top soil is not an aid to moisture reten- 
tion, but aids the drying out of the soil. If soil is plowed in right 
condition, following the plow as quickly as possible by the harrow 
is very beneficial. Also the use of this implement following rains 
to break up crust formation and maintain the soil mulch gives good 
results. A light harrowing at the time such crops as corn, potatoes, 
beets, grain, etc., are coming through the soil surface serves the dou- 
ble purpose of aiding an even crop stand and destroying weeds that 
are at the proper stage of growth for destruction by the harrow. 
The harrowing of such crops, however, should not be done very early 
of mornings or at times when the plants are crisp and easily broken 
by harrow teeth. On the other hand, when harrowing plowed 
ground to kill young weed growth, try to pick out days that are 
cloudy or utilize the early mornings, as the weeds will be more effec- 
tively damaged. 

The theory of the use of the harrow is to stir rather than turn the 
soil. This stirring is particularly beneficial in that it introduces air 
into the soil, thereby warming it and encouraging the action of the 
plant-promoting agents in the soil. 

Meadows, pastures, and hay fields become " hidebound," a condi- 
tion which is relieved by timely use of the harrow, preferably in the 



FARM IMPLEMENTS. 33 

spring just when the growth is starting. Of course, special imple- 
ments for this work are manufactured, but in the absence of such 
special implements, you can get results from the peg-tooth harrow, 
the spring-tooth harrow, or the disk. 

The harrow as now constructed is so arranged that if properly 
hitched the teeth will not follow each other or " track." If the teeth 
do " track " change the hitch, as you are not really harrowing unless 
each tooth stirs its own particular strip of soil. 

Do not be discouraged if your field looks worse after harrowing 
than it did before the work. The harrow has a way of dragging 
clods to the surface and of letting the fine soil down to the seed bed 
proper where it is needed. A clod on top of the ground is far less 
dangerous than one a few inches under the surface. 

The great advantage of the harrow lies in the simplicity of its 
construction and use. If you can not afford to buy a modern steel 
harrow you can follow the example of your forefathers and make 
an A harrow which will do good work and last for years. 

CULTIVATORS. 

The cultivator is an implement which is, I regret, too little ap- 
preciated and too sparingly used on many irrigated farms. Un- 
fortunately many of our farmers have acquired a belief that irriga- 
tion gives the same, or as good, results as cultivation. This is, I 
assume, based on an understanding that the principal reason for 
cultivation is the retention of moisture in the soil, and it is reasoned 
that it is more simple to provide more moisture by irrigation than 
it is to save moisture by cultivation. The retention of soil moisture 
is one of the principal functions of cultivation, but there are other 
reasons which must not be lost sight of. The plant-promoting or- 
ganisms in the soil require certain conditions under which they can 
do their best work. These favorable conditions call for moisture, 
but not excessive moisture. They also call for soil warmth and air, 
and soil is warmed and aerated best by cultivation, whereas the 
application of too much water makes the soil cold and closes the air 
passages. It should be readily understood that irrigation can not 
take the place of cultivation in any degree, but cultivation can well 
be substituted for much irrigation. 

The first cultivator was probably a pronged stick used by early 
man to assist his crops. The next form was probably what Ave would 
now call a crude form of hoe. Later, as man began to use beasts 
to help him at his work, the hoe was fastened to a beam to which 
the beasts were hitched. Later a second hoe or shovel was fastened 
to the beam and this evolved into the double-shovel cultivator, the 

5672S — IS 3 



34 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

only kinc 1 known to our grandparents and which is still giving good 
service in some sections of this country. Then, as the large fields 
in the prairie sections of this country came into cultivation, there 
was demand for a cultivator that would work both sides of a crop 
row at one passage, and we then had the sulky cultivator, two beams 
connected by an arch and supported at the front end by wheels — a 
regular two-horse implement. The more recent development in this 
implement is known to all; we now have the one, two, three, and 
four row riding cultivators, which are fitted by different styles of 
blades or shovels to meet the various requirements of different crops 
and different conditions. The cultivation of crops with our modern 
implements is a light task compared with this work 50 years ago, 
yet our farmers do not cultivate crops more thoroughly now, if as 
thoroughly, as our parents and grandparents did in their times. 

Acting on the practical theory that cultivation of the soil aids the 
work of the plant-promoting organisms in the soil, it is well to 
cultivate as early as possible after seeding. Many good farmers cul- 
tivate soon after planting and before the plants come through the 
ground. Then, as soon as the plants come through they harrow the 
field; harrowing is only another form of cultivation. After the 
plants are up sufficiently high that they will not be covered by dirt 
thrown by cultivator shovels, deep cultivation close to the plants 
should be given. Subsequent cultivations should be increasingly 
shallow and more distant from the plants to prevent damage to root 
systems. At least two cultivations between irrigations should be 
the rule — one as soon after irrigation as the condition of the soil 
will permit and the next several days before irrigation, when the 
furrowing shovel should be attached to the cultivator to prepare the 
irrigation furrows. 

The depth of cultivation should be governed by several factors. 
Plants have different rooting habits ; some dispose their root systems 
close to the surface of the ground and these require the most shallow 
cultivation. Other crops of deep rooting habits permit and profit by 
deeper cultivation. Some crops have wide-spreading roots and some 
have a single perpendicular root. The depth to which the seed bed 
has been broken also is important. Given a deep mellow ground to 
feed in plants will strike deep for nourishment, but with a shallow 
seed bed and a hard and unfertile subsoil the roots cling close to the 
surface. As a rule plant roots will go down after moisture, and this 
tendency should be encouraged. If too frequent irrigation is given 
the roots will secure moisture near the surface and be exposed to 
damage from cultivator shovels, also the drying action of wind and 
sun. No single phase of crop production is independent of all other 
phases ; every operation must be done mindful of all the conditions. 



FARM IMPLEMENTS. 35 

In no case should irrigation be substituted for cultivation. Every 
cultivation properly performed during- the period when plants need 
cultivation is a good investment. If in doubt, cultivate. 

THE ROLLER. 

The rolling or packing of cultivated ground has advantages over- 
looked by many farmers. The plain or smooth roller is a farm im- 
plement which has been in use many generations, but its use is gen- 
erally confined to two or three principal operations, such as the roll- 
ing of corn ground just before the planter or just before the first 
cultivation. 

Of late years there have come into use various modifications of the 
roller. One of the most important is a subsurface packer which re- 
places the roller drum by a number of wedge-shaped wheels set about 
4 inches apart on a common shaft or axle. This implement when 
properly weighted serves to pack or firm the bottom of the plow slice 
and insures capillary action of soil moisture. Another type has a cor- 
rugated drum or roller which makes a better clod crusher and mulch 
former than the smooth roller ; also it packs the soil to a greater depth 
than the smooth type. Still another type has both corrugations and 
teeth and this type is reported to give very good satisfaction. 

In spring plowing one of the difficult tasks is to properly firm the 
seed bed. Dragging does much to level and firm the soil, but after the 
seeding is done much loose dirt will be found. Using the roller at 
this time will make for quicker germination of seed. Seeds which 
have to develop a root system in loose earth seldom develop a strong 
root system and the result is weak plants. 

The rolling of meadows and pastures in the spring does much good 
in placing the plants firmly in the soil and" correcting the damage 
done by frost and freezing which may have loosened the plants and 
partly lifted them. Spring rolling of fall-seeded grains is beneficial 
for the same reason. 

Use of the roller ahead of the cultivator makes earlier cultivation 
possible, due to crushing of clods which otherwise would be pushed 
over on the young plants. 

The roller may do harm as well as good. A heavy soil should never 
be rolled when it is wet as a hard, brick-like crust will result. This 
should be watched when rolling ground after rains to break up crust 
formations. 



IRRIGATION. 



DUTY OF WATER. 

The term "duty of water " is so often seen in print and heard in 
discussions relating to irrigation that many people have arrived at 
the conclusion that irrigation water has a particular and definite 
duty ; that is, each second-foot or each acre-foot of water applied to 
land should yield certain definite results in the way of crops. There 
are many terms connected with irrigation that are misunderstood and 
misconstrued, and none more so than the term " duty of water." The 
man who most quickly realizes that irrigation water has no definite 
duty is the man who personally applies it to the land. Under cer- 
tain fixed and artificial conditions, such as irrigating in tanks in- 
doors, where all conditions are carefully regulated and noted, we 
may, by free use of estimates, arrive at conclusions as to what may 
be secured by adding a certain amount of water to a certain amount 
of soil in growing various kinds of crops. These conclusions will not 
hold good in the big outdoors. 

In field irrigation, where there are variations in soil strata, soil 
texture, topography of land., sun heat, direction and velocity of 
wind, and more than 57 varieties of other natural controlling factors 
there is sometimes a little doubt as to just what an acre-foot of water 
will do in coaxing a crop yield to make itself manifest. When you 
dispose of all these various natural factors, which up to this time 
have not been disposed of, you may consider for a time the variations 
in the skill and care of the irrigators and the disposition — common 
to all irrigators — to steal water that according to rules and regula- 
tions formally announced should be flowing into a neighbor's field. 

Admitting that, in years to come, some person with a sufficiently 
elevated brow may dispose of all the factors above mentioned and im- 
plied, there is still the interesting problem of determining just how 
and how much variations in and between seasons affect the duty of 
water. Nature has a peculiar inclination to furnish us with a contin- 
uous change of style in seasons. No two seasons are just alike or 
nearly alike, and no cycle of seasons is just like any other cycle of 
seasons. At times rains help the irrigator, and at times come when 
not welcome. A dry season following a dry season is more dry than a 
36 



IRRIGATION. 37 

dry season following a wet season; and a wet season following two 
wet seasons is more w T et than a wet season following two dry seasons. 

Averages as to the duty of water may be stated, but averages are 
misleading so far as they apply to the individual farmer. For 
example, 2,000 acre-feet of water may be used in a season on 1.000 
acres of land, and it is readily understood that the average use of 
water was 2 acre-feet per acre, and the average duty of 1 acre-foot 
of water would be to irrigate a half acre of land. To charge for 
water on this basis would usually be unfair, however, as a part of the 
1.000 acres by reason of character of soil could produce a crop with 
1 acre-foot of water per acre, and other portions of the 1,000 acres 
would require from 3 to 15 acre- feet of water per acre. 

On my own farm I have found that what I can accomplish in one 
field with an acre-foot of water I can not accomplish in another field. 
Every irrigator experiences this. The results accomplished by an 
acre-foot of water vary in different parts of a small field. The De- 
partment of Agriculture has been making studies of the duty of water 
on my farm for a number of years. The reports made by the men 
assigned to this work show me great variations in the duty of water 
under what on the surface appear to be similar conditions. I find 
that where a reasonable amount of water is evenly applied to a field 
some portions of the field are really overirrigated, and on other por- 
tions most of the water immediately passes down beyond the reach 
of plant roots. 

The term " duty of water " should be used less, and some such term 
as the " duty of irrigators " used more. There is no variation in the 
duty of irrigators, which is to use every acre-foot of water to the 
best advantages. 

IRRIGATION HEADS. 

The volume of water applied to the land by the irrigator is usually 
termed the head of water or irrigation head. This head should vary 
with and be governed by (a) the amount of water available; (b) 
the kind of crop being irrigated; (c) the character of the soil to 
which the water is applied; and (d) the topography of the land. 

Where the amount of water available is limited, small irrigation 
heads may be the only recourse. If the general conditions are right 
for the use of large heads, it would be economy for the neighbors 
to rotate the available water between farms in such manner as to 
make it possible for each to use, in his turn, the largest head that 
may be handled properly. This would save time for all and also 
secure the most efficient use of the limited supply of water. 

Where the crops grown are shallow rooted and can not be culti- 
vated, the head may be so controlled as to provide shallow irrigation 



38 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

and frequent applications of water provided: or, if the ground is 
fairly well shaded the soil may be well wet up without undue loss 
of water. In case of cultivated crops the head may be regulated to 
wet the soil to a considerable depth, and then this moisture may be 
held for the use of the crop by timely cultivation. It is generally 
claimed that heads large enough to flood the crowns of such plants 
as sugar beets should not be used, though good authorities hold that 
no damage is done to the crops unless the water is permitted to stand 
against the plants for a considerable time. 

The character of the soil is probably the greatest factor affecting 
the irrigation head. On sandy and gravelly soils small and slow 
heads sink into the subsoil and it is impossible to force the small 
head over a wide area. On heavy or " slick " soils a hurried irriga- 
tion with a large head fails to wet the soil to a depth sufficient to do 
any good. On light and silty soils large heads wash the soil, expose 
the roots of the plants, and disarrange the surface of the land. 

On the sandy and gravelly soils, large heads which will not unduly 
wash the soil should be used, and the farm laterals should be ar- 
ranged relatively close together so the irrigation head may be changed 
from one area to another without loss of time. On heavy and slick 
soils the head may be distributed over a larger area and traveled 
slowly to give the water time to sink in ; also, the distance between 
the farm laterals may be increased considerably. On the light silty 
soils where the water is applied to the bare soil the only practical 
plan is to use a number of small heads or " trickles " with short 
distances between farm laterals. These small heads may be con- 
tinued in one place for a considerable time or until the soil is well 
saturated. Where the soil is dry and hot and the " trickles " are ex- 
posed to the sun much of the water will be lost into the air, but if 
the run is continued miniature gullies are cut into the soil and in 
these the water is protected from the sun and greater efficiency is se- 
cured. 

The topography of the land helps or hinders the use of advan- 
tageous irrigation heads. For example, it is much easier to use a 
large head on gently sloping and nearly level land than it is on 
terraced or rolling land. Much skill and ingenuity must be exercised 
in handling water on uneven land in order that the water may be 
kept in control, otherwise the low places will receive more than their 
share of moisture and the high spots will not be touched. 

The irrigator should not get into a rut in the matter of the size 
of the irrigation head he uses. I have pointed out some of the con- 
ditions which affect the size of the irrigation head, and these con- 
ditions change on each farm from time to time as the land becomes 
better surfaced and the soil is changed by the rotation of crops. 
The farmer should endeavor continuouslv to use the most advan- 



IRRIGATION". 39 

tageous irrigation head. It means saving in labor and economy in 
the use of water. 

IRRIGATION TOOLS. 

In some of the old readers used in the country schools years ago 
was a story of an interview between a renowned painter and a stu- 
dent of art. After going into raptures over the work of the painter, 
the art student asked the question, " With what do you mix your 
paints ?" The painter replied, " With brains, sir." That would be a 
good reply to the often-asked question, " What do I need to irrigate 
with?" 

Intelligently handled, water is a willing and always obedient 
servant; uncontrolled, it is a hard master. 

The first important step in irrigation is a comprehensive and effec- 
tive layout of ditches. Next comes a proper preparation of the land 
for receiving the water. This means grading and leveling the land 
so the water will reach all the land evenly. In the leveling of the 
land is where much of the back-breaking work of irrigation may be 
done away with and where the use of special tools or equipment 
is made unnecessary. 

For cutting down high spots and filling holes any of the scrapers 
or graders well known throughout the country may be used. For 
finishing off the land and leveling it there is nothing better than 
the float or drag, which is constructed of 2 by 6 or 2 by 8 inch plank 
set on edge, 16 to 18 feet in length and 6 to 8 feet in width. Three 
crosspieces are used — one at each end and the third in the center. 
The end crosspieces are made to slant forward at the top and the 
center crosspiece or cutting edge is upright and should have a piece 
of steel on the lower forward edge, where wear occurs. The float 
should be well braced and supplied with planks on the top to enable 
the driver to shift his weight to different parts of the float to assist 
in the loading and unloading of the cutting blade. This float used 
properly on fresh-plowed land will save much work and water during 
the heat of the summer, when both are valuable. 

With the farm, ditches well located and built and the land properly 
leveled, irrigation becomes a simple matter, as the additional equip- 
ment needed is limited in most cases to a furrower, where furrow 
irrigation is practiced, a supply of canvas dams, a trusty shovel, and 
a strong, quick-thinking and quick-acting man. 

The furrower may be a homemade contrivance, which will drag out 
small furrows at stated intervals apart, or it may be one of the 
patented furrowers now on the market. The canvas dams are used 
for checks to force the water out of the farm ditches onto the land. 
They have been found the most practical for this use. The plan of 
making dirt checks is comparatively rapid, but it has its drawbacks, 



40 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

the principal one being that in some soils dirt checks will not hold 
well under a large head and the water frequently gets beyond the 
control of the irrigator. 

There is no such thing as automatic surface irrigation of large 
tracts of land, but the nearest approach to this is where the land is 
well surfaced and supplied with proper distributaries. With this 
accomplished, and this is where irrigating with "brains" is demon- 
strated, there is no need for an endless number of patent contriv- 
ances. Irrigate with " brains." 

IRRIGATION LATERALS. 

We often hear the statement that irrigation farming would be more 
attractive if it were not for the excessive amount of work necessary to 
irrigate the crops. It is admitted, of course, that there is work con- 
nected with irrigation. The choice between ordinary farming meth- 
ods and irrigation farming must be made on the basis of whether it 
is better to worry about the crops getting the necessary moisture or 
to work a little in putting the water on the crops. 

Much of the talk about the excessive work necessary to irrigate land 
would be dispelled, however, if the irrigators would irrigate to the 
best advantage. The first essential is plenty of farm laterals, prop- 
erly located and substantially built. You can no more reasonably 
expect to easily and successfully irrigate land through a faulty irri- 
gation system than you may expect to travel speedily and comfort- 
ably over poorly constructed highways. Water is inclined to travel 
in the line of least resistance and is controlled entirely by gravity. 
If the main lateral brings to your farm a good and sufficient supply 
of water you can make your work of irrigation easy or difficult ac- 
cording to the manner in which you undertake to handle the water on 
the farm. Lay out your farm system so that you can irrigate the 
crops with the least possible work and with economical use of water. 
Do not wait until it is time to irrigate before you arrange your farm 
ditches. The farm laterals or ditches must be constructed on accu- 
rate grades and subject to a plan which takes into consideration the 
contour of the land, the nature of the soil, the amount or head of irri- 
gation water to be used, and the kinds of crops to be irrigated. All 
ditches, irrespective of size, must follow the ridges on the land. 
Water can not be carried uphill and down in open ditches. Don't 
expect to coax the water uphill. Build the ditches in size accord : ng 
to the amount of water they will be required to carry. In computing 
the sizes of the ditches do not lose sight of the fact that the slope or 
grade of the ditches is as much a factor in determining the capacity 
as is the size or section of a ditch, i. e., a small ditch with consider- 
able fall will carry as much water as a much larger ditch with less fall. 



IRRIGATION. 41 

Another important factor in determining the sizes of ditches is 
the nature of the soil. Soil that washes easily requires ditches built 
with but slight fall, while clayey soils and others that do not wash 
easily may be constructed with greater fall. If the soil is light and 
sandy and the land is rolling, it will be necessary to construct checks 
and drops in the canals to prevent erosion in the bottoms of the 
ditches. 

Have plenty of laterals and cross laterals constructed. As a rule 
short runs of water are most economical both in water and time, and 
the water is more easily controlled. You create but small waste in 
taking up considerable land by small ditches. As a rule you will find 
that the crops bordering on the ditches are enough better than the 
average for the field to pay for the ground taken up by the ditches. 
By spending one hour in laying out your farm ditches you may save 
two hours' time in irrigating. 

The saving in labor in irrigation is not, however, the only reason 
for a proper layout of farm ditches. The irrigation of a crop is 
usually done at a critical period in the crop's growth — when the crop 
needs water. It is important, therefore, that the water be delivered 
quickly and efficiently. It is poor policy to put dependence in a 
system of poorly located and faultily constructed farm ditches. 
When you build your laterals, build well. 

CHECKS AND BORDERS. 

In some of the oldest irrigated districts of this country irriga- 
tion water is spread over the land by what is known as the check 
system and also by a modification of that system known as the 
border system. 

Irrigation by checks makes necessary the laying off of the irrigable 
land into small checks or tracts each surrounded by a small embank- 
ment. The water is turned from the lateral into one of the checks, 
usually the one of highest elevation, and when the ground is suffi- 
ciently moistened the head of water is directed to another check. 
The fitting up of land for check irrigation is comparatively ex- 
pensive, but when properly fitted the actual work of irrigation is 
easily accomplished. The first requisite for check irrigation is, of 
course, properly fitted land. Each check should be nearly level. If 
high and low spots are left within a check, it will be necessary to pro- 
vide high embankments in order to force water over all the land 
within the cheek. Parts of the check will be flooded deeply in order 
to get water on the high spots, and flooding is damaging to many 
kinds of crops. If the fields to be irrigated by the check system are 
practically level, the checks may be rectangles all of equal size. If 
the land is rolling, the embankments must follow the contours of the 
land, in which case the checks will vary in size and shape. 



42 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

The border system of irrigation is a modification of the check 
system and consists of borders or embankments which guide the water 
over narrow strips of land. The width of the lands between the bor- 
ders is usually about 50 feet and the length of the lands may vary 
from very short lands up to those 800 feet long. In fitting land for 
border irrigation it is necessary to make the strips or lands between 
borders level crosswise in order that the water may spread evenly 
between the borders and move down the land well distributed. The 
fall of the lands should be as nearly regular as is practicable in order 
to prevent the water piling up in low places. The lengths of the 
strips or lands are governed by the fall of the land and the character 
of the soil. On porous soils the upper ends of the lands will take up 
too much water before the lower ends of the long lands become suffi- 
ciently irrigated, so in the case of porous soil it is necessary to make 
short lands and use rather large heads of water. 

The use of the check and border systems of irrigation should be 
confined as much as possible to level lands and gently sloping lands. 
Under these conditions the principal advantage from these methods 
of irrigation is the careful check which may be kept on the amount of 
water used, as a certain head of water may be confined for a specified 
time on a measured area of land. Other advantages are the rapidity 
with which irrigation may be accomplished and the assistance ren- 
dered by the embankments and borders in controlling the water. 

Among the disadvantages of these methods of irrigation may be 
mentioned the cost of fitting up the lands for irrigation and the in- 
convenience of cultivating lands which are fitted up with numerous 
embankments and borders. 

IRRIGATION OF ORCHARDS AND GARDENS. 

The irrigation of orchards and gardens is given but little attention 
except in those sections of the country where the production of 
fruits and vegetables is specialized. On the average farm where di- 
versified farming is followed the irrigation of the trees, shrubs, and 
plants amounts to no more than the incidental spilling of a little 
water down the rows where the crops in adjacent fields are being ir- 
rigated. 

That special attention to methods of culture and irrigation of 
fruits and vegetables is worth while in sections specializing on these 
crops is proof that the same special attention is worth while on any 
farm in any section. 

It has been demonstrated that the color and flavor as well as the 
texture of fruits and vegetables may be influenced greatly by the 
methods of irrigation and cultivation followed. These products are 
among those where the price and demand are influenced directly by 
appearance, flavor, and texture; therefore measures which will im- 
prove these factors are worth while. 



IRRIGATION. 43 

The general rule for irrigation of vegetables is to keep the ground 
moist from seeding time until the period of ripening is reached, fur- 
nishing the greatest amount of water at that stage of growth, as 
when the peas are forming in the pods or the tomatoes are setting 
on the vines, then reducing or shutting off the water sufficiently and 
in time to permit, the vegetables to ripen or come to maturity nat- 
urally. When water is applied in too great quantities and for too 
long a period the quality of the vegetables deteriorates. In some 
sections of the country some vegetables are kept green and are caught 
by frost before they are given time to ripen. 

In the irrigation of orchards we have a question on which " doctors 
disagree." It is difficult to get two fruit growers to agree on just 
what plan is best. In the warmer sections where heavy freezes are 
not experienced every winter some of the difficulty of irrigating 
orchards is removed. Where cold weather is experienced care must 
be taken to prevent injury. It is generally conceded that water 
should be furnished the trees to permit them to make healthy growth 
up until July 15 to August 15, depending on the length of the frost- 
free season, after which water should be withheld to permit the new 
growth of wood to ripen thoroughly before freezing weather. Where 
it is possible to irrigate trees in the late fall or early winter it is 
good policy to do so, but care should be taken not to apply water 
early enough to start a second growth as this second growth would 
go into cold weather soft and the trees would be quickly injured or 
killed. These late irrigations will prevent the trees drying out un- 
duly during winter and enable them to make an early start in the 
spring. 

For gardens and orchards the furrow system of applying water is 
both the most effective and labor saving. In order that the trees 
may be induced to develop symmetrically, water should be fed to 
them from all sides, which is effected by circling the tree with the 
furrow. The root system of a tree is usually understood to extend 
as far out as does the branch system; therefore, as the trees grow the 
irrigation water should be well applied over a corresponding in- 
creasing area to place the moisture well within the reach of the entire 
root system. 

Frequent and thorough cultivation should be insisted on for both 
orchard and garden. Thorough cultivation lessens* the danger of 
overirrigation. 

After fruit trees have reached their full growth it has been found 
best in some sections to discontinue cultivation of the ground and 
to seed cover crops such as clover, alfalfa, or some grass. Some 
authorities claim this the best system to follow in order to keep the 
trees in healthy condition. 



44 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER, 

IRRIGATION OF CULTIVATED CROPS. 

The irrigation of cultivated crops is comparatively simple, but the 
results obtained from irrigation of these crops vary greatly with the 
skill and judgment used in irrigation with respect to time of irri- 
gation and amount of water used. The furrow system of irrigation 
is naturally adapted to cultivated crops, as the cultivator used pre- 
pares without extra labor the furrow for the stream of water. Years 
ago it was the custom in some sections to use the border and check 
systems, by which the cultivated crops were flooded, but this plan has 
been discontinued in favor of the more economical and simple fur- 
row system, and partly for the reason that covering some cultivated 
crops with water has been found injurious to the plant growth. 

In soils where the water spreads rapidly in the soil it is only nec- 
essary to run streams of water so that one stream serves two rows of 
crops; in cases where the soil is of such nature that water will not 
spread quickly through it, it is necessary to run a stream of water 
for each row of crop. As many crops are easily injured by sun scald, 
it is well to make the furrow deep enough to confine the water and 
prevent it touching the plants direct. Where at all possible, culti- 
vated crops should be planted on fa 11 -plowed ground and in which 
there is a good supply of moisture at time of planting. If the ground 
is dry at time of planting, it is well to irrigate before the seed is put 
in and then cultivate immediately after planting to prevent escape 
of moisture. 

Do not try to replace cultivation by irrigation. Less water should 
be used in irrigating cultivated crops than on other crops, as cultiva- 
tion should, by conservation of moisture, make unnecessary the ap- 
plication of the amount of water used on crops not cultivated. 

The first irrigation should be delayed as long as possible without 
stunting the plants, as this encourages the roots to drive deep into the 
soil, which makes for stronger growing crops and less frequent irri- 
gation. This plan also gets the plant roots deep enough to prevent 
their being cut by cultivation. 

The general rule for time of irrigation is to apply the bulk of 
the water just before the time when the plant naturally makes its 
most rapid growth ; this places the water at the disposal of the plant 
when it is most needed, and the important growth is therefore natural 
and seasonal. Tare should be taken not to continue irrigation after 
the plant has made its natural growth, as such additional water de- 
lays the ripening of the crop and hurts the quality of the crop. 

By all means cultivate thoroughly. It should be borne in mind 
that you will not overcultivate, while it is easy to overirrigate. Two 
cultivations to each irrigation will not under any ordinary conditions 
be too much. Keep just enough moisture in the soil to make plant 



IRRIGATION. 45 

growth natural, and depend upon cultivation to encourage the growth 
by warming up and introducing air into the soil. 

IRRIGATION OF SMALL GRAINS. 

Usually the first crops produced on irrigated land are small grains. 
This is due to the fact that in the locations of our irrigation projects 
small grains find a natural home, whereas corn and other cultivated 
crops require special care and experience in maturing of the crops. 
Also, small grains withstand for short periods excesses of drought 
or water and the inexperienced irrigator is able to secure a crop 
while he is learning how to irrigate. As the irrigated districts be- 
come more firmly established the production of small grains gradu- 
ally gives place to other crops such as alfalfa, sugar beets, potatoes, 
fruits, and others giving larger returns per acre and the production 
of small grains is put over on the dry-farming sections. 

The ordinary plan of irrigating small grain is b}^ the flooding 
system where the farm laterals are run on the highest places of the 
field and the water turned out of these farm laterals to flood or 
spread over the surface. The exceptions to this plan are in sections 
where the water supply is limited and where it is necessary to care- 
fully prepare the fields in such manner as to secure the best possible 
use of all the water. In these cases the border or check system and 
the furrow system are availed of. In irrigating small grain by 
the flooding system first mentioned, more irregular surfaces may be 
irrigated, but in irrigating by the check, border, or furrow system 
care must be taken to prepare the fields so that the surface is regular 
and the water easily controlled. 

In producing wheat under irrigation scarcity of water may be 
overcome by planting fall or winter wheat which makes the best pos- 
sible use of fall and winter rains and is usually matured by but one 
irrigation. Grains planted in the spring require from two to four 
irrigations, depending on the character of the soil and the amount of 
rainfall during the growing period. 

The same methods of irrigation may be applied to wheat, oats, 
and barley with the exception that overirrigation is less injurious to 
wheat than to oats and less injurious to oats than to barley. 

The time of irrigation is influenced a great deal by the time of 
rainfall in the period of growth. Where grain is planted in dry 
ground in the spring it is necessary quite often to irrigate the field 
in order to germinate the seed. Some authorities favor irrigating 
the ground before planting the seed, but the objection to this method 
is the delay necessary to irrigation and waiting for the soil to get in 
condition before the seed is planted. By planting and then irrigat- 
ing, the water immediately hurries the germination of the seed and 



46 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

furnishes moisture necessary for the early growth of the plant. After 
germination of seed and first growth of the plant the irrigation 
should be delayed until the appearance of the plant indicates need 
of moisture. The plants are naturally a light green ; as the need for 
moisture grows the plants turn a darker green, and unless moisture 
is supplied the dark green turns to yellow and the plants are per- 
manently injured. If possible, it is well to keep an even amount of 
moisture available for the plants. The period of most rapid growth 
comes just about the time of bloom when the plants shoot up, and 
plenty of moisture should be available at this period. The quality of 
the grain, as well as the quantity, may be helped by plenty of mois- 
ture at the time the grains are forming. If the moisture is shut off 
at this period shriveled and undeveloped grains will result. 

The quantity of water required for best yields of small grains is 
something each farmer should endeavor to work out as he may under 
the conditions which he has on his farm. Heavy and clay soils re- 
quire less water for maximum yields than sandy and gravelly soils. 
Where average conditions exist about 18 inches of water should ma- 
ture grain well on clay soils ; sandy or gravelly soils would probably 
require 30 or more inches for the same yields. This important fact 
should be borne in mind — the yield of both grain and straw increases 
with the application of water up to the amount which the plants need 
for their best development ; if the application of water is continued 
above this point the yield of both grain and straw will decrease, in 
proportion to the amount of excess water. 

Some authorities have put forward claims to the effect that small 
grains will yield best by a certain program of alternating dryness 
and moisture. It is believed to be well for the average farmer not to 
experiment with any such theory, as it is a theory at the best and no 
one can say definitely just when the soil should be dry and when 
moist on every farm. The best plan for the farmer is to endeavor to 
keep available for the plants just as much water as keeps them in 
healthy growth and time his irrigations to the periods when the 
plants need the maximum amount of moisture. 

IRRIGATION OF ALFALFA. 

There is no material difference between the methods of applying 
irrigation water to alfalfa and those employed in irrigating other 
crops. The principal variations in method are due. to local custom 
and soil conditions. 

Where water is plentiful and available in large heads the flood 
system is usually employed; where the water supply is limited and 
only small heads may be secured the furrow system is advantageous ; 
also the border or check system is readily adapted to the irrigation 
of alfalfa. 



IRRIGATION". 47 

For the flood system the farm ditches are arranged at the time of 
seeding the crop. The ditches are so arranged that they control the 
entire area of the field and so constructed that they interfere as little 
as is practicable with the handling of the crop. 

For the furrow system the field is marked off into shallow fur- 
rows just after seeding and these furrows become permanent with 
the stand of alfalfa. It is best to run the furrower through the fur- 
rows at least once each year to clean them out so that the water 
may not be obstructed. A cleaning of furrows after each cutting is 
economy. The water gradually feeds into the soil between the fur- 
rows until the entire surface is wet. 

Where the border system is used the fields are best laid out in 
strips 25 to 75 feet in width (preference being given to the narrower) 
and from 200 to 600 feet in length (preference being given to the 
shorter). Small ridges or levees guide the water down these strips, 
the water being applied in sheets covering the land between the 
levees. 

For the check system the entire field or any part of the field is 
surrounded by a levee and water run in until the entire surface is 
covered. 

The time of irrigating alfalfa is a matter concerning which there 
is much debate. Alfalfa does best when the soil contains just the 
amount of water it can use to advantage ; too much water produces 
poor hay and too little water makes a short crop. It has been found 
profitable to make later fall irrigations, provided it is certain the 
water will be absorbed into the soil. If water freezes on the surface 
the stand of alfalfa will be destroyed. If winter rains are plentiful 
it is best not to irrigate in the late fall, as an excess of water in the 
top foot or two of the soil during freezing weather tends to winter- 
kill the alfalfa. Also, if the soil contains an excess of water in the 
early spring the alalfa will make a slow start, due to the delay in 
the soil warming up. 

The first irrigation in the spring should be delayed as long as pos- 
sible without checking the growth of the plants. This will permit 
the soil to become warm and encourage the roots of the plants to 
strike deeper into the soil. 

Seasonal and soil conditions control to a considerable extent the 
amount of water to be applied at one time and the frequency of the 
applications. Dry and windy weather makes heavy applications of 
water necessary, and soils which will retain but a small portion of 
the water applied require frequent light irrigations, though it should 
be borne in mind that alfalfa is a deep-rooted plant and no oppor- 
tunity should be lost to encourage the roots to go deep into the 
soil for moisture. 



48 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

The rule adopted by many alfalfa growers is one irrigation for 
each cutting, and ordinarily this is sufficient. In some sections one 
irrigation is given before the first cutting and one after the last cut- 
ting, with one irrigation between the cuttings. 

If the rule of one irrigation for each cutting is followed, there re- 
mains the question of whether it is best to irrigate just before or just 
after the cutting. Irrigation before the cutting has the disadvan- 
tage of making the distribution of water more difficult, due to the 
heavy growth of the crop ; also it is claimed that the hay cures better 
on dry than on moist land. Irrigation after cutting is more easily ac- 
complished, but it has the disadvantage of permitting the soil and 
the plant crowns to dry out, and the second cutting comes on more 
slowly than is the case when the ground is moist when the crop is 
taken off. 

Don't over-irrigate your alfalfa. If an excess of water is applied 
the plants will endeavor to throw off the excess into the air, and in 
doing so the natural condition of the plant is changed, and coarse, 
woody hay results. On the other hand, too little water results in 
scanty foliage. 

A saving in irrigation may be accomplished if the alfalfa field is 
cultivated well with the disk, harrow, or special alfalfa cultivator 
at least once each year. The best plan is to so cultivate the field 
early in the spring and again after the last cutting. 

On fairly good soils, in sections of 12 to 15 inches of rainfall per 
year, 18 inches of irrigation water should be sufficient to produce 
three cuttings of alfalfa. This duty of water may be changed, due 
to more or less rainfall or soil and weather conditions. 

You can influence the quality of alfalfa hay by the amount of 
water applied. Try to give the crop all the water it can utilize 
without inducing rank growth. 

IRRIGATING WHEAT. 

Wheat is the one crop in which we are all interested. The quan- 
tity and quality of the grain produced is influenced much by irri- 
gation and much damage is likely to be caused by the late irrigations. 
Experience and experiments show that little good is accomplished by 
irrigations after the bloom stage has been passed. The earlier irri- 
gations have the greatest influence on the crop in matter of yield, and 
if there is plenty of moisture in the soil when the wheat is in the 
" boot " or just starting to head it is all that is necessary to make the 
crop. 

Late irrigations — that is, after the wheat has passed the bloom 
stage — are likely to cause damage to the crop by " lodging," as when 
the heads become heavy the straws are likely to break over. 



IRRIGATION. 



49 



IRRIGATING POTATOES. 

The Utah Experiment Station has conducted experiments in the 
irrigation of potatoes, and the results as set out in a bulletin issued 
by that station are summarized as follows: 

The highest yield of potatoes was produced where small regular 
irrigations were given. 

One inch weekly, or a total of 12.8 inches during the season, gave a 
higher yield than any other treatment. 

When as much as 96 inches of water were applied the .yield was 
less than where no water was given. 

Watering the land after planting the potatoes and before the 
plants were up reduced the yield below that where no irrigation was 
given. 

Where but one 
irrigation was ap- 
plied, it gave best 
results if applied 
when the potatoes 
were in full bloom. 

The second best 
stage was just as 
the tubers began to 
form. 

Discontinuing ir- 
rigation during the 
rapid growing sea- 
son, after it was 
once begun, de- 
creased the yield. 

Excessive mois- 
ture, or that ap- 
plied late in the life of the plant, increased the relative production 
of vines. 

The relative number of tubers per hill was increased by early irri- 
gation where the relative size of the tubers was influenced more by 
late water. 

Height of vines was affected much less by the treatment than yield 
of tubers. 

The experiment brings out the importance of an even supply of soil 
moisture during the middle portion of the life of the potato after the 
tubers begin to form and before they begin to ripen. 

The accompanying diagram also helps to bring out the valuable 
points of these tests. 

56728°— IS 4 




H Average weight u2Z Average number per hill 

Weight of average hill and average height of vines on plats 
receiving different quantities of irrigation water weekly. 
Results for five years. 



A FEW CROPS. 



GOOD SEED. 



One of the most beneficial features of the campaign for better 
farming is the widespread insistence for good seed. The old theory 
of " like begets like " holds good in the plant life as well as in animal 
life. Thorough cultivation is necessary to good crop yields, but the 
extra touch in cultivation will not be found so profitable unless good 
seed is planted; thorough cultivation and good seed do fine teamwork 
when it comes to producing bumper yields. 

I have noticed the statement that plowing matches held in certain 
sections of the country year after year for several generations have 
had a most beneficial effect on the farming methods of those sections. 
Not only has the best of plowing become a habit with those people, 
but all other features of the farm work have been given due atten- 
tion, and the result is that the farms in those sections are one and all 
models. It matters not what feature of farm work you start to im- 
prove, you will improve all other features with it. If farmers buy 
good seed they will decide that good seed deserves good seed beds 
and that the growing crop should have special care; also, they will 
not relish feeding these carefully grown crops to scrub live stock. 
Therefore, when you improve any feature of farm work you improve 
all the farm work. We all know that mumps, measles, hog cholera, 
weeds, and gossip spread from farm to farm, but we often forget 
that the good things also spread, and there is nothing more con- 
tagious than a good example in farming. Plant good seed, take 
good care of the crop, tell what you have accomplished, and it will 
lead your neighbor to follow your example. 

You do not have to send away to some distant part of the country 
for good seed. The best seeds for your uses are those produced in 
your neighborhood, and you should now have your seed ready for the 
next season's planting. Select your seeds from the fields and not 
from the bins and granaries. 

When our. forefathers got ready to plant corn they went to the 
corncrib, picked out some likely looking ears, and by biting off the 
small end of a kernel or two from each ear decided whether or not 
50 



A FEW CROPS. 51 

the corn would grow. When they planted this corn they' kept in 
mind the old idea of — 

One kernel for the blackbird, 

One for the crow, 
One for the cutworm, 

And three to grow. 

By slandering the blackbird and the crow and by assuming that the 
cutworm would be obliging enough to take but one kernel from each 
hill they succeeded in getting fair stands of corn. Many of the tables 
we see printed nowadays giving the amounts of various seeds to sow 
per acre are relics of the time when the farmers did not test their 
seed, and most of these tables should be revised to meet the require- 
ments of these days, when we expect every seed we plant to grow. 

PREVENT SMUT. 

Just a reminder about treating your seed wheat and oats. A 
heavy per cent of the oat and wheat crop of this country is lost each 
year because the farmers do not take steps to prevent smut. 

It is easy to treat seed to prevent smut; it is also inexpensive. A 
pint of formaldehyde put in a barrel* of water will treat 40 to 50 
bushels of grain, and the gain in yield will many times repay the cost 
and labor involved. 

When planting your spring grains do not be in too much of a 
hurry — take time to treat your seed to prevent smut. 

CORN. 

It is not likely the American farmer will give up growing corn 
whether he lives in the so-called " corn belt " or in some irrigated 
valley far removed therefrom. Corn is one of the greatest food- 
producing plants and should be grown wherever possible. It is par- 
ticularly valuable as a flesh producer when fed with alfalfa. 

Lack of moisture is not the only barrier to corn production. Corn 
requires a considerable amount of heat to bring about maturity, so 
we may consider heat one of the most important factors in corn pro- 
duction. On our northern projects, where the frost- free season is 
short and the nights cool, everything possible must be done to take 
advantage of all the heat available in the growing season. 

The small and young corn plant requires but a small amount of 
moisture. Frequent cultivaton in the early stage of corn growth will 
produce more good than irrigation. Cultivation warms the soil and 
irrigation cools the soil ; heat is what the young plant needs. It should 
be kept in mind that early in the season irrigation water will be 
much colder than that which may be had later in the season. If 
there is sufficient moisture in the soil to keep the corn plants growing, 



52 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

postpone irrigation as long- as good growth continues. If the ground 
is kept continually wet the corn will develop into rank and watery- 
growth of stalk, which is unable to produce good ears. The corn 
plant requires the most moisture at the time when it begins to put 
out tassels and silk. Water applied at this stage will be utilized in 
making grain rather than stalk. But here is the important factor to 
be kept in mind. If you have sufficient water in the soil to enable the 
corn plant to mature its grain, shut off all irrigation water and per- 
mit the plant to mature. 

Irrigation of corn is a simple matter, as the furrow system may be 
followed easily, using the furrows left by the cultivator. 

The irrigation requirements of corn may be summed up as follows: 
Irrigate as little as may be during the early stages of growth; 
maintain heat in the soil by cultivation. Furnish the bulk of the 
moisture at the time the plant needs it to make grain. Shut off all 
water in time to permit the plant to mature. 

I recommend to our project farmers that they put in a few acres of 
corn convenient to the farm stockyards so it can be harvested by 
sheep or hogs in the fall. The very early dent or the flint varieties 
for the north and later strains for the south should be selected. It 
will be found a paying proposition. If the corn does not mature it 
can still be used as forage. 

RYE. 

I hope all our farmers will not quit growing rye simply because 
the entire country bids fair to go " bone dry " during the war or 
longer. Rye has many good uses, and particularly on some of the 
poorer lands on our projects it would be found a great help if prop- 
erly handled. 

Rye is hardier than wheat and can be grown in colder places and 
on poorer soil than wheat. An acid condition in the soil does not 
appear to hurt this crop so much as other grain crops are injured by 
acid soils. It will germinate and grow with the temperature only 
a few degrees above freezing. This makes it an ideal crop to put in 
as a catch crop after other crops such as early grains, potatoes, etc., 
have matured. It makes a good winter pasture and can be turned 
under in the spring as a green manure — for which it is excelled only 
by the regular green manure crops such as cowpeas or soy beans 

Rye is attacked by but few diseases or pests and matures early 
enough to escape serious damage by rust. 

. Taken all in all, rye is a very valuable crop for winter pasture to 
save high-priced hay and for turning under in the spring to put the 
soil in better condition. 



A FEW CROPS. 53 

GRAIN AND GRASS. 

If we judge by newspaper publicity the world lives mainly by 
grain. There is no doubt the grain end of the human ration is at this 
time in a critical condition, yet we should bear in mind that man does 
not live by grain alone. The immense amount of pressure being 
brought on the farmers through all sources of communication is 
bound to effect a tremendous swing to grain production. There is 
an element of danger in too great a movement toward grain produc- 
tion in that we may neglect the production of food for live stock to 
the end that dairy and meat products, already costing the public an 
alarming price, will pass beyond the reach of the average purse. Ex- 
perienced stock feeders are at present prices of feed and feeders 
showing some hesitancy in investing their money. The amount of 
money which must be invested under present prices to finance the 
feeding of cattle or sheep is entirely out of proportion to the profits 
usually realized. Dairymen who have heretofore been able to make 
profit at prevailing prices for retail milk now find all their receipts 
eaten up by the advancing prices for live-stock feeds. There are but 
two courses open — prices for products furnished the public must 
go up or the prices for live-stock feeds must come down. When 
the producer can not produce at a profit he will quit producing, 
and herein lies a great danger to the public — the farmer included. 
Any decrease in live-stock handling means a decrease in farm fer- 
tility. The farmer should increase live-stock production both on the 
farm and in the feed yards. The way is through the increased pro- 
duction of grasses and forage. An increase in the acreage of alfalfa 
on our irrigated lands will answer the question for our farmers. 

Wherever alfalfa is grown in plenty there will be found live stock 
in plenty. Wherever there is live stock in plenty will -be found soil 
fertility, prosperous farm homes, and thriving communities. The 
prosperous communities in any part of the country are the communi- 
ties where live-stock feeds and live stock are plentiful year after 
year, and these are the communities which are "doing their bit" in 
sustaining the country now and which will do more than their share 
in any protracted struggle in which this country may engage. In 
peace or in war a country liA^es not by grain or by grass, but by grain 
and grass, and if there is any difference the greater of these is grass. 

MIXED PASTURES. 

The very creditable movement for the establishment of permanent 
pastures on irrigated lands is making considerable headway. While 
for hogs there is nothing more profitable than straight alfalfa pas- 
ture, the losses from bloat among cattle and sheep on alfalfa pasture 
have made many farmers give up pasturing alfalfa. The solution is 
to put in mixed pastures. 



54 HINTS FEOM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

In discussing this subject some objections are heard to putting in 
permanent pastures for the reason that " irrigated land is too ex- 
pensive for pastures." The best answer to this objection is the fact 
that in the portions of this country where land is highest priced 
large areas are given over to pasture and yield good returns. In 
England, where land is still more expensive, the ordinary farming 
plan is to have a great portion of the holding in permanent pasture 
which is liberally fertilized. 

The particular advantages of a mixed pasture are based on the 
following conditions : 

No single pasture plant is best for all soils and seasons. 

Different pasture plants have varying rooting and feeding facili- 
ties and different plants may use the same soil. 

Different plants start their growth and mature at different periods 
of the growing season, and a proper mixture furnishes growing 
pasture throughout the season. 

The mixtures of grasses suitable for pastures on irrigated land are 
given for the use of readers who may be considering putting in per- 
manent pastures in the spring, which is the best time to start perma- 
nent pastures. 

For bench lands under irrigation (per acre) : Pounds. 

Kentucky blue grass 12 

Bromus inermis 8 

Perennial rye grass 6 

Orchard grass 3 

White clover 2 

Red clover 2 

Alfalfa i. 2 

For light sandy soils under irrigation (per acre) : 

Kentucky blue grass 8 

Meadow fes*cue 12 

Tall meadow oat grass : . 5 

Bromus inermis 8 

White clover 2 

For low moist lands (per acre) : 

Perennial rye grass 8 

Redtop 10 

Rhode Island bent grass 4 

Meadow fescue 4 

Timothy 2 

Alsike clover 5 

White clover 2 

If you plan to keep live stock, which you should do, you will find it 
to your advantage to have a good permanent pasture. You should 
arrange this pasture with fences so one portion may be used while an- 
other portion is being irrigated and started anew. A good pasture 
properly used is one of the most profitable uses for your land. 



A FEW CROPS. 55 

SUPPLEMENT THE PASTURES. 

Late in the fall the stock pasture gets thin and dry and unless 
some extra forage is available there is a " let down " in the live-stock 
ration between the time of succulent pasture and the regular winter 
feeding. This means also a " let down " in the condition or perform- 
ance of the stock. This is the time to work into good use the mis- 
cellaneous roughage to be found on every farm, whether it be rak- 
ings from the grain field or " pick-ups " from gardens and truck 
patches. Unless these odds and ends are used in the fall they are 
wasted. Utilize to the best advantage every bit of roughage or 
forage you can find about the farm; let such feed supplement the 
pastures where possible and save the valuable hay and grain as much 
as is possible until the time it must be used. 

WARNING— SWEET CLOVER HAY. 

Of interest in connection with the widespread agitation in favor of 
sweet clover is the notice published in the Powell (Wyo.) Tribune 
by Mr. Don G. Margruder, agriculturist for the Department of Agri- 
culture on the Shoshone project. 

SWEET CLOVER STRAW BAD FOR HORSES. 

Some recent cases of sudden and unexplainable deaths of horses were investi- 
gated this week and indications seem to point to danger from feeding sweet 
clover straw in unlimited quantities. A post-mortem was held on a horse that 
had belonged to A. D. Hardy and it was found that the large intestine was greatly 
distended with a mass of this straw. Remedies that would probably save a 
horse in this condition might perhaps be a big dose of raw linseed oil when first 
taken sick and a generous injection of soapy water administered by force pump. 

Don G. Magrudek. 

Our water users should bear this in mind. I saw this sweet clover 
straw at the time it was thrashed. The sweet clover had been cut a 
little green and when thrashed was not brittle but came from the 
thrasher a fluffy, stingy mass which had the appearance of good 
straw. The fiber in the straw, however, was unbroken and was prac- 
tically indisgestible. A hungry horse given free access to this straw 
would eat more than its digestive tract could handle and a " packed " 
condition would result. 

BEANS. 

In farming under the conditions existing on most of the irrigation 
projects it is unwise, to " put all your eggs in one basket." One of 
the best ways to find a market for a crop is to grow something that 
is in demand 



56 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

Pick up a half dozen of the high-priced magazines and periodicals 
of general circulation in this country and notice the numerous ex- 
pensive advertisements of cooked canned beans. All these adver- 
tisements dwell upon the fact that beans are good food. The adver- 
tisements are creating a market for beans, and as a result of this 
advertising the demand for beans will grow ; beans are not now a 
drug on the market. 

Take advantage of this and grow a few acres of beans. 

In addition to being a cash crop beans have other important ad- 
vantages. The pulse family or group of plants, of which the bean 
is a member, is a soil builder, in that these plants gather nitrogen 
from the air and store it in the soil. This adapts the bean to any 
>plan of crop rotation. Beans are easily handled after thrashing; 
they may be safely stored awaiting marketing. This gives an advan- 
tage over most cash crops. Bean straw is nutritious forage for cattle 
and sheep and is a good substitute for clover or alfalfa, which adds 
another source of profit to this crop. Cull beans make good feed 
for hogs and sheep; they should be cooked and fed with corn or 
small grains to hogs, and they may be fed raw, whole or ground, 
to sheep. There is no waste in connection with the bean crop. 

Beans may be grown successfully on any of the reclamation proj- 
ects. With reasonable care and intelligent handling, they may be 
expected to yield 1,200 to 2,000 pounds of thrashed beans to the acre. 

The western portion of the United States should afford a market 
for beans of good. quality at $4 per 100 pounds. The San Francisco 
market for small white beans in 1913 ranged from $4.50 to $5.85 per 
100 pounds. The Mississippi Valley and eastern market ranged con- 
siderably lower. 

No special equipment is necessary for the planting and cultivation 
of beans. They may be drilled in with an ordinary grain drill by 
stopping up sufficient holes to make the rows the required distance 
apart. They may be cultivated with ordinary corn, cotton, or beet 
cultivators, though beans do best with shallow cultivation. 

If a considerable acreage of beans is being handled in one neigh- 
borhood, it will pay to cooperate in the purchase of bean harvesters 
and thrashers, as the work Avill be lessened and cheaper if modern 
machinery is used for this work. 

I wish to impress upon the irrigation farmers the desirability of 
growing varied crops. This distributes the farm work so that all the 
time may be put in to advantage. It also distributes irrigation work 
in such a way as to effect more economical use of water. By choosing 
a good crop rotation, which includes soil builders, the fertility of the 
soil will at the same time be maintained. The farmers should choose 
crops yielding good cash returns, and the bean crop should not be 
overlooked. 



A FEW CEOPS. 57 

Write to the Department of Agriculture and ask for bulletins on 
beans and other members of the pulse group and learn about a money- 
making crop that you are new disregarding. 

SUGAR BEETS. 

With the present rapid increase in the beet-sugar industry there 
comes an opportunity for our Government irrigation projects to 
secure the establishment on the projects of an industry which is 
important to the welfare of all interested in the projects. 

The sugar beet, as we know it, is the result of careful plant 
improvement. It is a plant that has been to college, so to speak, 
and to work to the best advantage it requires special care and favor- 
able conditions. It has been found that irrigation farming meets 
the requirements of sugar-beet production better than any other 
system, and it is in the irrigated districts that we may look for the 
expansion of the beet-sugar business. Each of our projects should 
endeavor to secure the establishment within its limits of a beet- 
sugar factory. 

The benefits to the farmer of producing sugar beets are direct 
and permanent. When a sugar company determines to try out a 
new field of production there are sent into that field experienced and 
capable agriculturists who work with the farmers in testing out the 
growing of beets. If the results of the trials are satisfactory, the 
new territory is added to the field of operations of the sugar com- 
pany, and in most cases a new factory is started. With the new 
factory come permanent agriculturists, called field men, who spend 
their time with the farmers advising and helping with the field 
crops of all kinds. One of the first things to be done is the estab- 
lishment of a good crop rotation, which is necessary if beet grow- 
ing is to be successful. From this enforced 'crop rotation come the 
principal profits to the farmer. The intensive cultivation required 
by the beets makes not only for heavy yield of beets but for increases 
in the yields of crops following the beets. Increases of from 10 to 
50 per cent in yields of grain following beets are common. 

Raising sugar beets and keeping live stock go hand in hand. The 
beet tops left on the ground after beet harvest are worth from $2.50 
to $5 per acre, make a splendid feed for sheep or cows, and are par- 
ticularly profitable in starting sheep on feed. In some sections the 
tops are placed in silo and used to add succulence to the live-stock 
ration throughout the winter. The sugar factories have by-products 
called pulp and sirup, which are valuable additions to rations and 
will assist in the fattening of aged animals where dry feed would 
prove a failure. The manure secured through stock feeding is the 
best possible fertilizer for beet fields, and thus we find that these 
important lines of farm work help each other in all respects. 



58 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

The raising of sugar beets creates a demand for labor on the farm 
far in excess of that required for ordinary farming. This labor is 
usually contracted for at fixed rates per acre of beets, and the people 
engaged in this work seldom take up other lines. This makes them 
available year after year, and they may be spared from the beet work 
in seasons of other rush work, such as hay harvest and grain harvest 
and also for the care of live stock in winter. 

Sugar companies contract in the spring for the fall delivery of 
beets, the price is fixed in advance, and the farmer knows when he 
seeds his crop the price per ton he will receive for his beets. The 
farmer is thereby enabled to make business arrangements with mer- 
chants and banks with reasonable certainty that he will meet his 
financial obligations on time. 

The business man knows the advantage of operating in a section 
where high-priced farm products are raised. A crop of beets is 
worth from $60 to $100 per acre, and this makes a great increase 
in business over what may be expected from crops worth from $10 
to $50 per acre, as is the case with ordinary farming. The great 
increase in the number of people on the farms makes a correspond- 
ing increase in the home market for everything produced. 

In looking into the history of every community where a beet-sugar 
factory has been established it is found that a rapid increase in the 
value of land has followed without fail, and the values have re- 
mained high. This industry gives a permanent high value to farm 
lands, which is a feature farmers will not overlook. 

The handling of the heavy tonnage of beets over country roads 
makes good roads necessary. Some farmers will complain of the 
cost of building good roads where crop returns are poor, but no 
farmer who handles sugar beets will want anything but good roads. 

None of our projects can afford to overlook the opportunity of 
getting a beet-sugar factory within the project limits. 

SUGAR-BEET SPECIALS. 

Growing sugar beets promotes: 

1. Thorough cultivation, which means better soil conditions and 
fewer weeds. 

2. Crop rotation, which means better farming methods and even 
distribution of labor. 

3; Dairying and live-stock handling, which mean better incomes 
and maintenance of soil fertility. 
Growing sugar beets decreases: 

1. Danger of crop losses from hail or frost; the sugar beet is a 
hardy plant. 

2. The cost of crops that follow ; the digging of beets is as good as 
deep fall plowing. 



A FEW CEOPS. 59 

3. Financial risk of changes in crop markets ; the price of beets is 
knoAvn before they are planted. 
Growing of sugar beets increases : 

1. By 25 to 50 per cent the yields of crops following beets. 

2. The market for forage through local increases in live-stock 
business. 

3. The price per acre of land and makes the price stable. 

4. The population of country and town, making bigger and better 
local markets. 

5. The supply of local, year-around available labor. 

IT PAYS TO GROW SUGAR BEETS. 

The tops and crowns of sugar beets are equal to an average cutting 
of alfalfa with a grain ration added in making beef and mutton. 

An acre of beets will furnish 7 to 15 tons of tops for ensilage. 

The beet pulp and molasses by-products from the sugar factory 
make excellent and cheap feed for stock. Pulp for old ewes and 
old cows and molasses for hogs and horses. 

Sugar companies keep expert agriculturists in the field to help the 
farmers, without cost to the farmer. 

Sugar beets make a paying crop for young orchards. 

Keep one-fourth of your farm in sugar beets and after your crop 
rotation gets to working you will harvest as much from the remaining 
three- fourths as you do now from your entire farm. 

Most of the Government irrigation projects are well fitted by soil, 
water, and climate for successful beet growing. 

Sugar beets are a good crop for small farms. 

Sugar-beet districts are prosperous farming communities. 

It«is easy for a beet grower to get credit at the bank. 

Handling of sugar beets requires good horses and good roads, and 
both are found in sugar districts. 



LIVE STOCK. 



FEED SOME STOCK ON THE FARM. 

Notwithstanding- the fact that the subject of feeding stock on the 
farm has been often mentioned by me in farmers' meetings, I find on 
my rounds of the projects, so much need for the irrigation farmers to 
take up stock feeding that I feel I must say something more on the 
subject, particularly since I find that some of our settlers are suc- 
cumbing to the lures of the advertisers of commercial fertilizers — 
those mysterious " patent medicines " which are cure-alls for the ills 
of the soil. 

Farmers should bear in mind that stock feeding on the farm has 
two highly important advantages over straight cropping of the soil, 
viz, it furnishes a ready market for the crops produced on the farm 
and it furnishes a means of building up and maintaining the fertility 
of the soil. 

I recently read a report of an important meeting of banking men 
and one of the speakers, I think a banker from Minnesota, stated that 
in his community the only farmer who can get a loan of money at the 
bank is the " farmer who habitually has cow manure on his boots." 
There is more to that than a catchy phrase. It represents realization 
by the bankers and business men that the farmer who does not keep 
stock of some kind is a poor financial risk and the farmer who feeds 
his field crops to live stock is a good financial risk. The farmer who 
sells his crops from the field or bin and then purchases commercial 
fertilizer to " tune up " his soil is rapidly putting his balance on 
the wrong side of the ledger. The farmer who markets his crops 
through live stock or live-stock products and then cares for and places 
the manure on his land is the farmer who is getting ahead. * 

Xo matter how small the farm some kind of stock should be fed. 
If the land is too high-priced to profitably breed and raise stock in 
every community, cattle, sheep, hogs, or even chickens or turkeys can 
be bought as feeders at market prices and a good profit made by put- 
ting them in shape for market. 

In Germany farmers will purchase and feed steers at what would 
appear to be $10 or $20 loss per head, but these farmers claim that 
GO 



LIVE STOCK. 61 

they make profits of from $15 to $30 per head when proper credit is 
given for the fertilizer produced. 

On every farm there is a certain amount of pasture and forage 
which can be utilized only by feeding stock. The refuse from gardens 
and orchards will furnish considerable hog feed if properly utilized. 
What is left on grain fields after harvest will go a long way toward 
fattening several hogs. The pasture along canal banks and in fence 
corners of an ordinary 40-acre farm will keep three milch cows dur- 
ing the summer months. Chickens and turkeys will rustle their feed 
from what would otherwise be waste. 

The work horses on the farm might just as well be good brood 
mares and each raise a colt every year. This can be arranged so as 
not to interfere with the regular farm work, and within a short time 
the farmer will have a team of horses to sell each year at good prices. 

If the farm is fairly large and several hundred tons of alfalfa 
forage are produced, sheep or cattle bought as feeders in September 
or October and fed 100 to 150 days and then sent to market in good 
shape will make a nice profit. 

If the farm is small, a few acres can be put into root crops and the 
roots fed to good advantage, particularly if grain is scarce or high 
priced. Our friends in Canada took to the Fat Stock Show in Chi- 
cago stock that had been fattened on root crops and forage, without 
any grain whatever, and they carried off many of the prizes. 

If there is on the farm land available for permanent pasture, such 
a pasture should be seeded. Elsewhere in these pages you will find 
an item giving a good mixture of grasses for permanent pasture on 
bench lands under irrigation. 

The farmer by feeding his crops to live stock can make his farm 
produce the highest-priced products on the American market — beef, 
mutton, pork, butter, and eggs — and he can rest assured he is build- 
ing up his soil while he is securing the maximum returns for his labor 
and investment. 

COOPERATIVE OR COMMUNITY BREEDING AND PRODUCTION. 

Cooperation between farmers in the same community in selecting 
and following standard lines of crop and live-stock production is 
not a new idea, but it is a good idea that is being overlooked on most 
of the Government irrigation projects. 

We find in certain sections of the country where the farmers have 
banded together and specialized on some crop or breed of live stock 
that they have by careful methods in production and good business 
in advertising and selling their products made both their products 
and locality widely and well known. 

Some sections of our country are peculiarly adapted to growing 
certain crops such as potatoes or melons. By forming associations 



62 HINTS PROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

and agreeing upon a particular potato or melon that produces best 
and sells most advantageously the farmers can create a steady and 
profitable source of income. 

The same is true in the apple or citrus fruit districts. It has 
proven best for all concerned to produce a standard fruit so that the 
individual crops may be assembled in carload lots or trainload lots 
of a standard and desirable variety that finds a ready sale at the least 
expense to the producer. 

Some districts are well adapted to producing milling varieties of 
wheat and others do best with the soft or feeding .varieties. By asso- 
ciating and agreeing to produce a certain variety of wheat, or other 
grain crop, the individual farmers can assemble their crops into large 
shipments which can be handled at the minimum expense and secure 
the maximum price. 

It has long been recognized that it is best to have a standard breed 
of dairy cattle in a community. This permits upbuilding the herds 
by the infusion of new and better blood at the smallest expense to 
the individual dairyman. The products from this standard breed of 
dairy cows are practically uniform and admit of uniform advertising, 
and they secure a uniformly good market. 

It is admitted that a carload or trainload of hogs of the same 
breed and color will by reason of their uniform appearance and con- 
dition bring prices in advance of a heterogeneous bunch of hogs. The 
idea of economy and good results in improving the breed where a 
standard breed is adopted is true of hogs as well as of cattle. 

The same principles are true in poultry. Shipments of eggs of 
similar color, size, and shape and shipments of dressed poultry or 
live poultry of the same color, size, and shape will find the best mar- 
ket and bring the best prices. 

So, I say to the farmers on the projects, get together, form associa- 
tions to promote crop and live-stock production. Agree upon and 
adopt as standard breeds of dairy cows, beef cattle, sheep, hogs, and 
poultry the particular breeds or strains that do well and sell best on 
the nearest good market. 

Take the varieties of fruit, grain, and other products that are 
especially adapted to the project, confine your work to the varieties 
selected by your association, and advertise and improve those 
varieties. 

Some of the advantages of cooperative breeding, which means 
standardizing the live stock of a community, are : 

Improvements by additions of new blood may be made more quickly 
and with less expense to individuals. 

Care and feeding of standard breeds may be standardized. 

Cooperative breeding makes possible cooperative marketing. 



LIVE STOCK. 63 

Production of standard breeds brings the purchaser to the pro- 
ducer. 

Standard breeds secure the maximum prices that any standard 
article earns. 

By cooperative effort it is possible for a community to secure high- 
grade sires which would be too expensive for one or two or three 
individuals, and when a good sire is secured it could be utilized 
throughout its life of usefulness. On the other hand, if an unde- 
sirable sire is purchased, it may be eliminated without serious loss to 
any individual. If an individual brings an undesirable sire into a 
community he is often forced by financial considerations to continue 
the use of the undesirable sire in the community, to the unending 
detriment to live-stock interests in that community. 

It is well known that different breeds of live stock require varying 
methods of care and feeding. Where the breeds for a community are 
standardized, the best methods of -care and feeding may be deter- 
mined for that locality and greater returns realized from feed and 
labor. 

The advantages of cooperative breeding as an aid to cooperative 
marketing are obvious. Cooperative marketing will not make great 
headway until cooperative breeding makes it possible. 

Communities which have not established reputations for standard 
production are forced to market their surplus in hit-or-miss manner, 
carrying their live stock to the buying centers, where they are at the 
mercy of the buyers. Where communities have established standards, 
buyers are glad to come to the producer, and the producer may reject 
unsatisfactory bids without fear of loss. 

Go into any marketing center and inquire into the prices of any- 
thing on the market. You will find that the standard products carry 
the maximum prices. Standard products are the first to advance 
in price and the last to slump in price. It makes no difference 
whether the product be poultry, dairy product, beef, mutton, or pork, 
the producer of the standard product receives the reward to which 
he is entitled — maximum prices. 

Consider the success attained by the community of Frenchmen who 
have made the Percheron horse favorably known throughout the 
world. .The name Jersey is known where cows are milked, and yet 
the name of that breed originated on a small island where people 
believed in standardization. Until Belgium got into the limelight 
through the misfortunes of war that country was most widely known 
as the home of a standard breed of draft horses. The Hereford, the 
Shorthorn, the Ayreshire, the Holstein, and other famous breeds of 
cattle were made possible through cooperation in communities bent 
on producing something worth while. 



64 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

It is recognized that to bring about this cooperation in community 
production some of the farmers who are now successfully handling 
certain good lines of live stock and general products will have to lay 
aside their personal likes and dislikes and join with the majority in 
producing other good breeds and varieties. The farmer who has the 
good of his community in mind — and this really means his personal 
advancement and interest — will be willing to join the association in 
its efforts to promote the general welfare. When this is done co- 
operative buying and selling, advertising, and breeding can be prac- 
ticed to the great common good of the community. 

BETTER CARE AND MORE LIVE STOCK. 

Just in the same measure that extra care in handling field crops 
means an increased harvest, so special care in handling live stock 
means more meat food for our people. 

The mortality among young pigs, calves, colts, and lambs — due 
directly to lack of care — runs into losses amounting to millions of 
dollars yearly. There is no doubt but that our farmers could readily 
save on an average of one more pig in each litter than they now save. 
Think what that means for the entire country — an increase o.f at 
least 10,000,000 hogs. The increase in other classes of stock would 
not, of course, be so great, but results of special care would be im- 
mensely beneficial- when the entire country is considered. 

The average farmer raises but one litter of pigs from a brood sow 
each year. Probably a half or a third of the total number of brood 
sows would readily produce and care for a second litter each year, 
particularly if they are given the care and nourishing feed necessary 
to make a two-litter per year program successful. 

It is likely the average farm has about 50 chickens when winter 
sets in. If each farm wife would this year manage to have a couple 
of extra broods — say 25 chicks — hatched and saved the total increase 
in our poultry would mean a tremendous help in the food situation. 

The present situation does not demand that a few people make 
great efforts or sacrifices; what is needed is a little extra effort by 
each and every person. The production of live stock is the business 
of the farmer, and in this work he should do his bit to help the 
general situation. 

PICK YOUR BREEDERS. 

Improvements in both vegetable and animal life are made through 
careful selection and segregation of the strains or types to be per- 
petuated. 

The corn belt in this country has gradually widened and lengthened, 
not by reason of changes in climate, but by means of breeding various 



LIVE STOCK. 65 

strains of corn, some of which would do well in the warm sections of 
the country, and others of which would mature in the short-season 
sections farther north. Millions of acres of semiarid lands in the 
Great Plains area of this country are being made to support homes 
through the selection of crops which will thrive and mature in these 
districts of scant rainfall. 

The existence to-day of the many breeds of live stock suited to the 
varying needs of man is due to the untiring work of live-stock 
breeders, who make it the life work of not only one but many gener- 
ations of a family to bring about excellence in certain types of live 
stock. When we consider the great amount of care involved in the 
fixing of the standard types of live stock the indifferent attitude of 
many farmers toward the breeding up of farm live stock seems noth- 
ing short of criminal. 

Reasonable care in the selection of breeding stock on the farm 
would work advantages which, considered for the entire country, 
would add millions of dollars annually to the live-stock wealth of this 
country. For example, a farmer has two brood sows; one produces 
five good pigs and the other nine. It has been demonstrated that the 
ability of sows to produce large litters is transmitted to their offspring. 
This fact should lead the farmer to pick his breeding stock from the 
litter of nine rather than from the litter of five. 

To breed mares to standard sires might cost a day's time and $5 
more than to breed, to some scrub sire conveniently located. It is a 
good investment of time and money, however, to use the standard 
sire, as the colt when 2 years old would easily be worth $50 more than 
that secured from a scrub sire, and if the colt should be a mare the 
value through its offspring is increased indefinitely year after year. 
So it is with all classes of live stock. The perpetuation of scrub live 
stock should be considered a public nuisance where it is possible to 
improve the breeds. If you do not possess live stock that is worth 
perpetuating you should at once get a start of the right kind. Know 
the characteristics of the live stock you possess; know which mare, 
cow, ewe, or sow produces in its young qualities that make profitable 
farm animals. Get rid of the ones that are not profitable and which 
produce unprofitable young. Do not make out of your farm a home 
for decrepit and inefficient live stock. Pick your breeders. 

FEEDING AND BREEDING. 

Many a farmer has read the glowing accounts of profits to be made 

in handling pure-bred live stock until he has been induced to invest 

in some pure-bred animals. After a time he comes to the conclusion 

that there is no advantage in pure-brecl stock. In the majority of 

56728°— 18. 5 



66 HINTS FEOM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

such cases the fault does not lie with the pure-bred stock nor with 
the good intentions of the farmer, but mostly with the boomers of 
pure-bred stock in that they failed to place sufficient emphasis on the 
fact that pure-bred stock is specialized along- various lines such as 
beef cattle, dairy cattle, draft horses, road horses, bacon hogs, and 
lard hogs, and each type of animal requires care and feeding in 
keeping with the utility of that animal. For example, we can not 
expect good results by feeding dairy cows beef-cattle rations, nor by 
feeding draft horses rations suited for road horses. The pure-bred 
animal is a specialized piece of machinery and will perform properly 
only when given the proper materials to work with. Experience 
shows us that there is much in pure-bred animals, but it takes feeding 
and care to bring it out. A man who thoroughly understands han- 
dling live stock can take grade stock and secure better results than 
can the inefficient stockman with pure-bred stock. 

The beginner with live stock is very apt to purchase high-priced 
stock and expect superior results therefrom before he has any prac- 
tical knowledge of caring for any kind of stock. 

Do not get the idea that because live stock is kept on every farm 
every farmer is getting the best results possible out of that live stock 
or that every farmer is making money with live stock. Too many 
farmers give brood sows rations that should be fed only to hogs being 
fattened for market, and many farmers give to milch cows rations 
more suited to a goat. 

The phenomenal records of milk and butter fat production by 
cows which we read of in all the farm papers are not due entirely 
to the fact that these cows are pure bred. As a matter of fact most 
of the record breakers are pure-bred cows, cows bred to produce milk 
and butter fat ; we would not expect a Hereford cow to break any 
milk-production records. But a knowledge of the special care given 
these record-breaking cows, what they are fed, and the frequency 
with which they are fed and milked makes us realize that there is 
importance in feeding as well as in breeding. 

The best results in handling live stock may be had by handling 
stock bred and specialized along certain lines, providing the stock- 
man understands what the stock can best accomplish, and feeds and 
cares for the stock accordingly. Do not condemn pure-bred live stock 
if you have failed to furnish rations which that particular kind of 
stock is best adapted to utilize. The successful live-stock man is not 
merely an authority on breeding or on feeding alone. Success with 
live stock follows a combination of good judgment in feeding and 
breeding. 

WINTER SHELTER FOR LIVE STOCK. 

Success with live stock depends upon careful attention to three 
cardinal principles, viz, breed, care, and feed. These three essen- 



LIVE STOCK. 67 

tials are dependent each on the others, and no amount of attention to 
care and feeding will make up for faulty breeding, and no amount 
of attention to breeding will correct the evils resulting from poor 
care or poor feeding. 

At this time the leaders in live-stock work appear to be putting 
particular stress upon breeding and feeding, and it is opportune to 
say a few words on the subject of care of live stock, with particular 
reference to winter shelters. I will not treat on this subject from 
the humane standpoint, though much might be pertinently said 
along that line. The economic phase of this subject should be suffi- 
cient argument to induce the man who has live stock to provide 
proper shelter for his stock and protect them from the rigors of 
winter weather. 

To living beings feed is fuel. The food taken by animals pro- 
vides, first, for the growth or upkeep of the body. Undue exposure 
tears down the structure of the body, and an excess of food is neces- 
sary to combat this tearing-down process. Food taken by animals 
in excess of the amount necessary to keep the body in condition is 
manufactured by the animal into fat or milk. It is obvious that in 
order to get the best results from the feed given to live stock we must 
keep the live stock in such shelters as will make it unnecessary for 
the stock to use all the feed they receive in keeping their bodies nor- 
mal ; we must make it possible for them to manufacture growth, fat, 
and milk out of a portion of the feed, for the reason that growth, 
fat, or milk represent the profits in keeping live stock. - 

The essentials for proper winter shelter for live stock are fresh air, 
light, dry and warm beds, and freedom from drafts. It is not nec- 
essary to spend thousands of dollars to provide these essentials. It 
is the choice of locations for shelters and the common sense used in 
the construction of the shelters that make or mar their efficiency. 
The straw-thatched shed is often more efficient than the expensive 
building. 

Clean air is as important to animals as it is to people. To shut 
any animal in a building in such manner that there is no supply of 
fresh air and no escape for foul air is to surely bring upon the ani- 
mals exposure to dangerous diseases and to provide certain transmis- 
sion of these diseases from one animal to another. Foul air always 
carries disease. Provide for bringing in fresh air and the escape of 
foul air. 

Light — sunlight — is the peer of all disinfectants and a purifier of 
air. At the present prices at which glass may be had it is about as 
cheap as other building material. There is no reason for making a 
dark cell out of your barn. Turn on the sunlight. 

Instead of leaving the straw stack to rot in the field, put the straw 
through the barns, sheds, and feed lots as bedding for the stock. An 



68 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

animal will not through choice make its bed on wet manure. To the 
discredit of some farmers it may be said that they shut horses, cows, 
hogs, and sheep in shelters where the floors are damp and where no 
straw or litter is provided for bedding. Still these animals are ex- 
pected to return a profit to the owner. An animal to be profitable 
must first be comfortable. Make real beds for your stock. They 
will appreciate it and you will sleep better on stormy nights if you 
know that the animals that have come into your care are not suffer- 
ing through fault of yours. 

A thing that is dreaded by people as a plague in wintertime is a 
draft. Reams and reams have been written by health authorities 
on the dangers of drafts. Animals are just as susceptible to the 
dangers of drafts as are people. You can without extra cost pro- 
vide shelters in which the stock will get fresh air without being 
subject to drafts. 

Do not go too far in sheltering live stock. If you unduly pamper 
the animals you lower their bodily strength and their vigor. Pay 
particular attention to the essentials — fresh air, light, dry and warm 
beds, and freedom from drafts — and this care in connection with 
attention to breeding and feeding will yield profits. 

BEDDING. 

When the near winter season is upon us and the chill in the air 
makes a man reach for the wooly blankets along about 2 a. m., we 
should have a thought for the comfort of our live stock. 

We many have the finest of stock barns and shelters, but unless 
we do a little upholstering of the places where the stock must sleep 
we have not provided one of the things most important to live-stock 
comfort. 

It is more than likely that somewhere on the place a straw stack is 
slowly rotting down to be eventually scattered over the fields. The 
quickest and best route for a straw stack to take to the fields is via 
the floor of the barns and shelters. Plenty of good clean straw bed- 
ding, frequently renewed, will save many a dollar on your feed bill. 
If you do not keep your stock warm from the outside with bedding, 
you will have to do it from the inside with feed. 

Straw bedding serves the additional purpose of absorbing the 
liquid manures which would otherwise run to waste and worse by 
making a filthy underfooting for the stock. Straw thus mixed with 
manure more quickly rots and adds value to the manure. 

It takes more than a w r arm bed to make a man sleep comfortably 
on cold winter nights. An easy conscience will help wonderfully, 
and to know that all the farm animals are bedded down as snug as 
you can make them will do much to ease the conscience. 



LIVE STOCK. 69 

WINTER LOSSES. 

We have all heard the old query, " If a frog in a 20-foot well 
climbs up 4 feet each day and slips back 3 feet each night, how long 
will it take him to get out? " Many a farmer is up against the same 
question in producing live stock. If, through the use of plenty of 
grass and other succulent feeds, he makes a cow weigh 1,000 pounds 
in the fall and she shrinks back to 800 pounds before spring, how 
much does he realize on what the cow eats? A little thinking along 
this line will induce the wise farmer to stop up the cracks in his 
barns and sheds, to haul in plenty of straw for bedding, and make 
sure of a good supply of roughage and other feeds necessary to hold 
on the stock the flesh they have gained during the summer months. 

Every pound of animal flesh is worth its market price at the close 
of the grass season and if any of this flesh is lost during the winter 
it must be charged to the loss account and the animal started out 
again in the spring in a weakened condition. 

Hold your stock in good condition through the winter. 

SHADE. 

Don't forget that the only profitable animal is a comfortable ani- 
mal. No animal is comfortable during die hottest months of the year 
unless it has access to shade. Farm animals which must go unpro- 
tected in cold, stormy weather have my sympathy, but no more than 
those that have to spend the entire day exposed to the scorching sun. 
Fortunate is the farmer who has trees to furnish shade for his live 
stock : trees make the best shade. If no trees are available, shade may 
be provided by the erection of shedlike structures, open on all sides 
to allow free passage of air. The roofs may be made of boards, 
brush, or straw. If different kinds of stock are kept in one pasture or 
lot, some sheds not more than 4 to 5 feet high should be provided for 
the hogs, sheep, colts, or calves to insure that they will not be driven 
out into the sun by the larger animals. Man in self-pity has created 
the hat, the parasol, has put sunshades on wagons, buggies, automo- 
biles, and on some of the implements used in the fields ; he has access 
to the shade of houses and other buildings, while the live stock, the 
source of much of his buying power, is too often left unprotected. 

Intense heat of the sun reduces the vitality of live stock, and this 
lost vitality must be regained at the expense of the farmer; there is 
an economic as well as a humane side to this question. If you keep 
live stock, keep them comfortable; provide some shade. 

WHEELED STOCK SHELTER. 

Winter or summer stock needs shelter from snow, rain, or sun. 
Sheep and hogs particularly need shelter from the hot sun, and a 



70 



HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 



movable shelter is a convenience. The Agricultural Digest has 
brought to light a shelter on wheels which appeals to me as being 
practical, and an illustration is here reproduced. The blocks used to 




elevate the wheels are an important item. In some of the more windy 
sections it would be' necessary to provide posts or guy wires to prevent 
the shelter beine; overturned or blown from its blocks. 



WATER FOR LIVE STOCK. 

On the subect of live stock there is writing without end. Practically 
every phase of live-stock feeding and breeding is being presented to 
the public through the multitude of present-day newspapers, periodi- 
cals, and books. The only phase of this big subject which appears to 
be overlooked at this time is the importance of plenty of good water 
for live stock. 

On averaging our farm animals we find that out of each 100 pounds 
of live weight 49 pounds is water. This should indicate to all the 
important function of water in the well-being of the farm animal. 

If an animal is provided with good water in accordance with its 
natural needs, it will, obviously, make the best practicable use of the 
dry feed furnished it. It has been found by practical tests that ani- 
mals endeavor to maintain a reasonable balance as between the amount 
of dry feed and the amount of water taken into their bodies. For 
each 100 pounds of dry feed it is necessary for the animal to have a 
specified amount of water in order to make the best use of the dry feed. 
The proportion of water to dry feed varies, of course, with the dif- 
ferent animals. 

The ideal way is to have plenty of good clean water before the 
stock at all times. Unfortunately this is impracticable. In the North- 
ern States there are the freezing temperatures to contend with. Icy 
water is not good for stock and it is difficult to keep reasonably warm 
water before them. When an animal takes ice-cold water into its 
body, it is necessary to bring this water to a proper body temperature 
before it can be utilized by the body. This means a sacrifice of warmth 
and on this account many animals prefer to go thirsty rather than 
take a proper amount of water when the water is cold. This is par- 



LIVE STOCK. 71 

fcieularly true of stock which is not well sheltered. It is worth going 
to considerable expense and labor to supply stock with reasonably 
warm water in cold weather. It will enable you to get larger returns 
from your high-priced hay and grain. 

An unsatisfactory condition met with in some States is the use of 
stagnant ponds and reservoirs for watering stock. Stagnant and 
unclean water is no more fit for live stock than it is fit for people. 
You need not expect healthy and profitable live stock if you force that 
stock to drink unclean water. When an animal drinks impure water, 
the impurities must be removed by the digestive organs of the animal 
before the water can be used to advantage. Don't make filters out of 
your stock. You would not, of course, put sand in the axle grease 
you use on your farm wagon, but you are doing something just as 
unwise when you force your stock to drink unclean water. Im- 
purities in water are to an animal's digestive organs what sand is to 
the bearings of your farm wagon. 

A good-sized book could be written on the subject of water for live 
stock. Space here will not permit mention of all the important 
phases of this subject. One caution may well be added, however. 
Water is a great conveyer of animal diseases. Hog cholera in par- 
ticular is carried from one farm to another by streams and irrigation 
ditches. Horse diseases are transmitted through public watering 
places. Cattle diseases are spread through the indiscriminate use of 
open watering holes. Be sure that your live stock is not exposed to 
disease in any preventable manner. 

BLOAT. 

Throughout the alfalfa-growing section — and this includes all our 
reclamation projects — there is much complaint of serious cases of 
bloat caused by grazing alfalfa. Some losses of stock have occurred, 
and it is probable that some of our farmers are not making full use of 
their alfalfa pasture through fear of losses of stock from bloat A 
clear understanding of the causes, preventives, and cures of bloat will 
remove much of the danger. Alfalfa pasture is one of our greatest 
assets, and we should make the fullest possible use of it, taking the 
simple precautions necessary to prevent loss from bloat. 

Bloat is the result of fermentation of food in the stomach of the 
animal ; this fermentation causes gases, which distend the abdominal 
cavities. Alfalfa contains certain elements which if taken in con- 
siderable quantities under certain conditions ferment quickly. Care- 
ful observation of alfalfa grazing leads to the conclusion that practi- 
cally all cases of alfalfa bloat are caused by the following conditions: 
Turning hungry stock on young alfalfa; grazing alfalfa when it is 
Avet with dew or rain ; free grazing of alfalfa when it is making rapid 



72 HINTS FEOM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

growth; grazing alfalfa when it is first frosted or when it is freezing 
and thawing. 

Many preventives of bloat have been given publicity. Some of 
them are fully successful and some partially so. The busy farmer 
does not have time to keep close watch of his grazing stock, and the 
most simple preventives are the most useful. One of the most prac- 
tical preventives is the plan common in some of the Southern States 
of seeding into the alfalfa pastures a crop of barley and grazing the 
combined alfalfa-barley crop, which does not cause bloat. This plan 
may be changed to suit various localities and other crops which do 
not cause bloat may be seeded in the alfalfa pastures. Another good 
plan is to give the stock a good feed of cured alfalfa hay before turn- 
ing on the pasture each day. The stock are less liable to gorge them- 
selves if this plan is followed. Some advocate keeping in the alfalfa 
pasture a rack filled with cured alfalfa. It is not believed, however, 
that this plan is as satisfactory as that of feeding the cured alfalfa 
before turning the stock into the pasture. When the number of 
animals to be grazed is limited, a successful plan is to fit into the 
mouth of each animal a large bridle bit or a wooden bit made for the 
purpose. This prevents the stock from eating too fast and decreases 
the danger of an accumulation of gases. 

It has been found that it is practically impossible to prevent bloat 
entirely. It is necessary, therefore, that every farmer have at hand 
at least one reliable remedy for bloat. 

I find it a common practice to exercise animals that are suffering 
from bloat. In my opinion this is a serious mistake. I know of a 
number of heavy losses from exercising cattle and sheep while they 
were suffering from bloat. Let the animals remain as quiet as is 
possible. It is generally understood that the suffering animals may 
be afforded relief if they are stood so their fore feet are considerably 
higher than their hind feet. 

As has been stated, bloat is caused by fermentation of foods in the 
stomach, and cures for bloat must act internally in such manner as 
to prevent this fermentation, and this internal treatment should be 
supplemented by some treatment which will aid the escape of the 
gases which have formed in the stomach. 

Following are simple remedies, given in quantities which are doses 
suitable for full-grown cattle, each remedy is to be given as a drench: 

(1) One to 2 ounces of turpentine well shaken into 2 quarts of 
milk. 

(2) One ounce of aromatic spirits of ammonia in 1 quart of water. 

(3) One-half ounce of chloride of lime in 1 pint of water. 

(4) One pint of melted lard placed well back in the throat, 

(5) One and one-third ounces of formalin in 1 quart of water. 



LIVE STOCK. 73 

(6) One pound of baking soda and three heaping tablespoonfuls 
of ginger in 1 to 2 quarts of water. 

After giving any one of the above-named remedies, it is "well to 
place a wooden bit or block of wood in the animal's mouth to keep it 
open that the gases may escape without hindrance. Some recom- 
mend that about 3 feet of £-inch hose be worked down a cow's throat 
to assist the gases to escape. 

Some cases of bloat are, when discovered, too much developed and 
too serious to permit attempt at relief through drenches. In these 
cases the one sure cure is the use of the trocar and cannula. This is 
a simple and inexpensive instrument consisting of the trocar — a 
sharpened steel "sticker" — which fits inside a steel tube called the 
cannula. The entire instrument is about as thick as a lead pencil 
and from 4 to 7 inches in length. This instrument should be kept 
well oiled and clean. 

In tapping a bloated cow the instrument is to be inserted through 
the hide on the left side at a point about half way between the last 
rib and the point of the hip. Use care not to make the puncture too 
high. Point the trocar in the general direction of the right shoulder 
and with one blow drive the instrument in to the hilt. Then pull 
out the trocar, leaving the cannula inserted, and the gases escape 
direct from the animal's stomach through this tube. Don't be afraid 
of killing the cow. Just bear in mind that the stomach punctured is 
about the size of a wash tub and no vital organs are touched. Let the 
cannula remain in place an hour or so, keeping watch on it that it 
does not become clogged. As soon as you have punctured the ani- 
mal's stomach, give one of the drenches described in this article in 
order that the fermentation in the stomach may be stopped. When 
you remove the cannula from the puncture rub a little tar or tincture 
of iodine over the wound and no trouble will result. 

By all means utilize your alfalfa pasture. With ordinary care you 
will lose no stock from bloat. 



SHEEP. 



SHEEP ON THE IRRIGATED FARM. 

So much is now being written on the subject of sheep on the farm 
that it is practically impossible to bring forward anything new and 
valuable on the subject. 

The American people seem suddenly to have realized the truth of 
what has been preached to them for years — we need more wool and 
mutton. They also realize that the old system of sheep handling — 
that of running immense bands on the range the year round — has 
been broken up, due to settlement of the ranges by farmers. The 
main source of supply of wool and mutton must therefore be the 
farm flock. The handling of sheep in small farm flocks has had great 
impetus of late, but the success of the farmers in this work has 
been mixed with failures. The success of the farmer is in proportion 
to his interest in and liking for the sheep. 

It takes little capital to start in a small way with sheep. A few 
head of ewes are sufficient to give the inexperienced farmer the 
training he needs, and the flock may be increased as experience is 
gained. 

The buildings and equipment necessary for a few sheep are also 
inexpensive. A straw-thatched shed, closed on three sides and located 
on dry ground, is very acceptable to the sheep. Their welfare de- 
mands shelter from snow, rain, and winds. 

On the irrigated farm a permanent mixed-grass pasture, so ar- 
ranged that it may be divided and the sheep confined to one part while 
the other part is being irrigated, will be found very profitable and 
convenient. Alfalfa may be used for sheep pasture if the fanner is 
willing to give the time and care necessary to prevent loss of sheep 
from bloat. 

For the beginner I recommend the purchase of grade ewes in the 
fall, bred ewes being secured, if possible, to get them bred to full- 
blooded rams. I hear some one say : " Why not start with full- 
blood ewes? " Well, in recommending grade ewes I am speaking from 
experience. To handle full-blood sheep as they should be handled 
requires experience, and it is just as well for the farmer to practice 
74 



SHEEP. 75 

on something not quite so expensive. If the man is a real sheepman, 
he will work into the full-blooded business quickly enough. 

A breeding ewe should be of good size, smooth bodied, with a fairly 
heavy fleece. The ewe should be expected to pay for her keep with 
her fleece. Ewes over 2 years old — say, 2 to 4 years old — should be 
selected. Ewes lambing for the first time give much trouble in various 
ways: they may disown their lambs, fail to produce milk, or be shy 
and hard to handle. Usually the older ewes produce more lambs. 
Farmers have not fully appreciated the value of breeding ewes. A 
ewe which will pay for her keep with her fleece and produce a $10 
lamb surely should be worth $20. Heretofore the ewe has done well 
to bring the price of her lamb. The farmer should look upon the ewes 
as having special value, also individuality, just as mares, cows, and 
sows. 

If the ewes are secured in good condition, as they should be, their 
principal feed during the winter may be alfalfa ha}', with the addi- 
tion of a little silage or beet pulp — say, 2 pounds per head per day — ■ 
or a like quantity of roots. The average gestation period is about 150 
days. About 30 days before lambing time a small amount of grain 
may be gradually introduced into the ration, about half a pound per 
day being the maximum. A few days before lambing the grain 
should be discontinued and not fed again until about 3 days after 
lambing. This will prevent trouble like milk fever and various bag 
ailments. If the milk flow is not sufficient for the lambs, the grain 
may be increased some over a half pound per day. I have found 
dried beet pulp beneficial at this stage, fed practically the same as 
grain. 

Lambing time is the trying time for the flockmaster. Then it is 
that his profits or losses are started. Watch must be kept over the 
flock day and night during this period. Some of the ewes will need 
assistance in lambing and some of the lambs will need the shepherd's 
help to get a start. The ewes and their young should be given in- 
dividual inclosures for a few days until they become thoroughly 
acquainted. If part of the ewes have two lambs and part only one, 
it may be necessary to feed these two classes separately, as the ewes 
with twins will need more concentrated feed than will those with 
single lambs. 

Castrating and docking the lambs are important for the good of 
the flock and should not be neglected. Where large numbers are 
handled it is common to perform both these operations at one time. 
Due to the great shock, losses occur from such double operations. 
With a small flock it is not unhandy to perform these operations 
about a week apart, both being done by the time the lambs are 15 
days old. The docking is best done with heated pincers, which 
simultaneously remove the tail and sear the cut, preventing loss of 
blood. 



76 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

At about 2 weeks of age the lambs will begin to eat, and a creep 
should be provided for them and ground grain placed in troughs 
where the ewes can not get to it. This will hasten their development. 
Also, a good plan is to plant rape in rows in an inclosure adjoining 
the sheep pasture or yard, and when it is 7 or 8 weeks old the lambs 
may be permitted to creep into it. This will bring them to the fat- 
tening period in fine shape. 

Quite a book might be written on the subject of sheep feeding, and 
still there would be much to tell. The best plan is for the farmer 
to keep his sheep thriving on pasture, forage, and roughage as well 
as he can without the use of much grain until the time comes to put 
them on a fattening ration. Then they may be put into pens on a 
full feed of alfalfa hay, with a grain ration being gradually added. 
A quarter of a pound of Corn per sheep per day, with alfalfa, will 
put on fat; of wheat or oats, up to half a pound per head per day 
may be fed. 

In these days of high-priced feeds every feeding operation must be 
conducted with care and judgment. Cleanliness, punctuality, and 
kindness must be the ruling principles in handling sheep on feed. 
Sheep will not eat unclean feed or drink dirty water. They are better 
timekeepers than most alarin. clocks and worry if their feed is not 
forthcoming at the proper time. An animal that is worried or con- 
stantly subject to fright will not put on fat. In fact, you must love 
stock to be successful with them. Take care of them just as you would 
your best girl, but remember how, before you were married, you would 
take care that she did not get her feet wet and how you would pull 
off your coat, loan it to her, and go cold yourself rather than let her 
be uncomfortable. 

There is no reason why every other farm should not have its band 
of sheep. I say every other one because I realize not all of us would 
be successful with sheep. 

Two years ago I started a band of breeding ewes on Hesper Farm, 
and in both 1916 and 1917 I have found them satisfactory and profit- 
able. The ewes were a mixed bunch, so far as breeding goes, but they 
were very good grade ewes for the purpose. The rams were full 
blooded. In 1916 the returns on about 100 ewes and their increase 
were sufficient to pay for the ewes and all the expenses of care and 
feed and leave me the ewes for profit. 

For 1917 the account stands about as follows : 

CREDIT. 

Wool sales $1, 2S0. 00 

Lambs sold 2, 030. 00 

On hand Nov. 1, 1917, 179 ewes and 3 rams 1,532.00 

$4, 842. 00 



SHEEP. 77 

DEBIT 

Nov. 1, 1916, 179 ewes, at $8 $1, 432. 00 

Nov. 1, 1916, 3 rains 100. 00 

Wintering costs : 

3 months' pasture $163. 00 

3 mouths' hay 273.00 

5 tons dry heet pulp 12.".. oo 

561.00 

Lambing 100. 00 

Shearing and dipping 50.00 

Summer pasture, 182 head, 3 months 163. 00 

Summer pasture, 3S2 head, 3 months 343. 00 

Herding, 3 months 180. 00 

$2, 929. 00 

Profit 1, 913. 00 

An item of expense which properly should be included would be 
interest on the investment in the ewes for the year, or about $115, 
This would still leave a profit of about $10 per head on the flock of 
182. No depreciation is charged on the ewes for the reason that they 
are worth more November 1, 1917, than they were one year earlier. 
and they are inventoried at the close of the year at the same price as 
the cost November 1, 1916. 

Due to prevailing high prices, returns run into high figures, but 
the same proportion of expense and profit would work out if feed, 
labor, mutton, and wool were priced lower. 

I notice a news item in a western farm paper telling that Mr. E. 
P. Adams, of the Myrtle Point district. Oreg., foresaw good profits 
in sheep raising IS months ago and invested in sheep to the amount of 
$250. Since then he has sold wool and sheep worth $693 and still 
has 70 animals, valued at $700. 

One Illinois man on a little prairie farm cropped to corn, oats, and 
clover and stocked with a few brood mares, some hogs, and a few sheep 
has been more than ordinarily successful. His 18 grade Shropshire 
ewes raised 31 lambs this year. The wether lambs were recently sold 
on the market at a little over 100 pounds in weight, and 10 of the 
ewe lambs were sold for breeding purposes to a neighbor at $20 
each. Each of his old ewes produced an income of $35 in lambs and 
wool this year. 

I notice the following in the California Cultivator of November 10 : 

"I would not know how to do good farming without sheep." declared George 
McKerrow, of Wisconsin, one of the best and most widely known sheep breeders 
of America, on a recent visit to the Food Administration in Washington. 
" Why? " he continued, " because my sheep use up the wastes of the farm. They 
clean up the grass, weeds, brush, and gleanings, and in so doing turn into cash 
what otherwise would be lost." " Sheep," said Mr. McKerrow, " make the most 
economical gains of any kind of live stock, because they clean up odds and 
ends." 



78 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

Nature, or habit, has made some kinds of live stock economical. 
For example, after a cow and a horse have taken what they will from 
a pasture the sheep will follow and wax fat, For the good of the 
pasture this plan is not recommended, but it is stated to indicate a 
characteristic of the sheep. Economy must be the watchword of the 
farmer these times, and we may well depend upon the sheep to make 
economical use of all feeds and not impose unduly upon the time of 
the farmer, time being also valuable. A point of considerable im- 
portance is that sheep will do good work in harvesting field crops in 
much the same manner as hogs are used in "hogging off" corn and 
grains. Sheep will pick up shattered grain in stubble fields, dig beets 
or other roots left in the ground, and, equipped as they are with 
splendid grinding teeth, they are glad to save the farmer a milling 
bill. They will eat potato peelings, scraps from the table, or any- 
thing similar which has not become dirty. 

For the information of those who have not had experience in start- 
ing irrigated pastures, which are so valuable in handling sheep, the 
lollowing are permanent pasture mixtures which have been found 
satisfactory in experiments made at Government experiment stations: 

For a heavy soil, seed the following per acre : 

rounds. 

Smooth brome grass — 3 to 4 

Kentucky blue grass 4 to 6 

Orchard grass 4 to 6 

Meadow fescue 3 to 4 

White clover 1 to 2 

Alsike clover 1 to 2 

Total 16 to 24 

For an ordinary loam soil, seed the following per acre : 

Pounds. 

Kentucky blue grass 8 

( >rchard grass — — 5 

Smooth brome grass 5 

Meadow, fescue — 4 

Timothy 4 

White clover — . 2 

Total l 28 

For low or poorly drained soils, seed the following per acre : 

I'uunds: 

Redtop 8 

Timothy 8 

Meadow fescue 6 

Alsike clover 4 

Total T 26 



SHEEP. 79 

If any local pasture grasses not named are available, they may also 
be included. Sweet clover might be added in some cases. 

The foregoing mixtures are suited to the more northern sections of 
the country. For detailed information as to starting those pastures 
it would be well to refer to bulletin issued July 26, 1916, by the De- 
partment of Agriculture; subject, "Irrigated Pastures for Northern 
Reclamation Projects." 

Other Government bulletins of interest and value to the beginner 
with sheep are : No. 573, " The Sheep Industry on the Minidoka Rec- 
lamation Project"; No. 576, "Breeds of Sheep on the Farm"; No. 
810, "Equipment for Farm Sheep Raising"; and No. 840, "Farm 
Sheep Raising for Beginners." 

Quite a number of books dealing with sheep have been put on the 
market. Two, which I have read and found practical, are " Sheep 
Farming in America," by Joseph Wing, sold by Sanders Publishing 
Co., Chicago, 111. ; and " Sheep Management," by Frank Kleinheinz, 
University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. 

REASONS FOR KEEPING SHEEP. 

Believing that too much can not be said in favor of keeping sheep 
on the irrigated farm, I think every one of our farmers should give 
serious consideration to the 30 reasons, as advanced by Mr. H. J. 
Schnaidt, of Ames, Iowa, for keeping sheep on the farm. These 30 
reasons are as follows : 

1. The initial investment in foundation stock is small. 

2. Expensive buildings are not necessary. 

3. Expensive machinery is not required. 

4. Less-productive land can be utilized. 

5. Sheep will eat and relish almost every class of weeds. 

6. By eating " ragwort," the source of " pictou " cattle disease is eliminated. 

7. By cleaning out the fence rows sheep destroy the winter protection of many 
injurious insects. 

8. Due to the fineness of the mastication of their food, very few weed seeds 
are found in sheep droppings. 

9. Sheep are of great value in clearing brush land. 

10. Sheep are dual-purpose animals. 

11. Crop yields are increased by the constant and uniform distribution of rich 
manure. 

12. The excreta of sheep is rich in nitrogen and potassium. 

13. Less plant food is removed from the soil by sheep than by grain crops. 

14. The cost of maintenance is small. 

15. Sheep make profitable use of fodder left in cornfields after corn is har- 
vested. 

16. Sheep can be made marketable without grain. 

17. Wool and lambs are more easily transported than grain crops. 

18. Rapid and frecpient monetary returns. 

19. Reasonably large percentages of profits under normal conditions. 



80 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

20. Wool and mutton advanced in price before the war, and a sudden drop 
in value is not to be expected. 

21. Less labor is required on a sheep farm than on a grain farm. 

22. Labor on the farm is more evenly distributed throughout the year. 

23. Sheep require little care, except during the usual slack periods. 

24. Children, as a rule, like sheep, and this is a good time to develop future 
shepherds. 

25. A flock of sheep on the farm furnishes a fresh supply of meat at any time 
of the year. 

26. Because of the comparatively low cost per animal, sheep are more easily 
improved than most other types of live stock. 

27. Sheep are more prolific than horses and cattle. 

28. The western sheep ranches are rapidly disappearing, and it is up to the 
small farmers to make up the deficiency. 

29. The population of the United States is increasing, while the number of 
sheep is steadily decreasing. 

30. As a patriotic duty in the present world crisis, we must produce more 
wool and mutton. 

SHEEP FEEDING. 

An old recipe for making chicken pie starts with the very impor- 
tant requirement, " First get the chicken." So with sheep feeding 
there is one all-important preliminary, and that is, first get the feed. 

I am a strong advocate of sheep feeding where the farmer has the 
necessary feed of his own raising. Buying the sheep and buying the 
feed for them is just plain gambling for a farmer, and it is a game 
that has brought financial ruin to some of the best-posted sheepmen 
in the country. If you have raised your own feed, you can go into 
sheep feeding with small chances of loss and reasonable assurance 
of financial gain and absolute assurance of the improvement of 
your land if you make good use of the fertilizer produced by the 
sheep. 

There are many plans of sheep feeding which have been tried out 
and found satisfactoiy in different parts of the country. I will out- 
line briefly two plans which are satisfactory in the alfalfa-growing 
sections where most of the reclamation projects are located. In 
these semiarid sections most of the sheep feeding is done in the 
open — that is, without sheds — a windbreak, which may be either a 
tight fence or a row of trees, being considered sufficient. 

One plan, generally known as the Colorado plan, provides for the 
feeding of alfalfa from one set of lots or runs and the feeding of 
grain or concentrates in one grain yard which serves several lots of 
sheep. For convenience we will assume we are feeding 2,000 sheep. 
This will require four runs each 250 feet long and 14 feet wide, with 
hay bunks 14 feet in width between them. All of these runs must 
communicate direct with the grain-feeding yard, which for con- 
venience may be about 60 to 75 feet wide and about 125 feet long. 
This yard should contain the equivalent of 20 grain racks each 14 



SHEEP. 81 

feet in length and so arranged that the sheep may feed from both 
sides. The accompanying sketch shows an arrangement of the hay 
and grain yards — this layout may be modified to suit the conditions 
in each case. The grain racks are best made portable, about 14 feet 
long. 12 inches wide, and 2 to 4 inches deep, set on legs so the bottom 
of the trough is 14 to 18 inches off the ground. A 6-inch board 
should be placed lengthwise about 10 inches above the trough to pre- 
vent the sheep standing in or jumping over the trough. The grain 
ration for 500 head, or one yard of sheep, is placed in the racks and 
the sheep from one yard turned in. Gates leading from the hay 
yards should be the full width of the yards to prevent crowding. 
"While these sheep are in the grain yard the hay wagon is driven 
through the empty run and hay unloaded into the racks on both sides 
of the wagon. When the sheep have eaten the grain they are re- 
turned to the hay run, and the same operation is performed with each 
of the other three runs of sheep. 

The plan of feeding which I favor is that of feeding hay and 
grain from the same rack. The accompanying sketch shows the con- 
struction of the rack used in my feeding. It is simple, easily built, 
and inexpensive. Under this plan it is best to provide a yard into 
which the sheep may be turned while the racks are being filled. The 
racks, which are 14 feet long and a little more than 2 feet wide, will 
each accommodate about 30 sheep. The racks should be arranged in 
a double row, so the hay wagon may be driven between them and 
hay unloaded on both sides. After the racks are filled with hay the 
grain or concentrate is scattered over the top thereof and the sheep 
turned in. This plan assures a good distribution of the grain among 
the sheep, and the hay is eaten with more relish and cleaned up better 
than where the hay and grain are fed separately. 

Either of the described plans is satisfactory. There are general 
conditions which must be observed by the feeder under any plan 
of feeding. The feed lots must be kept dry; sheep are very particu- 
lar about where they lie down, and to keep them contented dry bed- 
ding must be furnished during wet periods. Unless you are feeding 
old and broken-mouthed ewes, do not grind the grain for the sheep. 
Sheep are equipped with the best of grain grinders, and they prefer 
to do this work themselves. Clean and fresh water must be before 
the sheep at all times. Do not neglect this. It is considerable work 
to keep fresh water before the sheep in cold weather, but it must be 
accomplished. The sheep must be provided with plenty of clean salt. 
Some feeders roll a barrel into a yard, cut a few staves out of the 
side of the barrel, and let the sheep help themselves, and this plan 
is a good one. Keep the sheep quiet. You do not need a dog for 
yard feeding of sheep, and it is best to have none around. Any ex- 

56728°— 18 6 



82 



HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 



citement among the sheep means dollars lost to you. Keep them 
quiet. An old country adage, " The eye of the master fattens his 
cattle," holds good in sheep feeding. Keep close watch on the 




sheep; do not let a day pass without closely observing all details. 
Pay particular attention to the droppings, for by this you can de- 
termine to a great extent whether the sheep are thriving. If the 



SHEEP. 



83 



droppings are of a yellowish brown and soft in texture, all is well. 
If they are hard, dry, and black, the sheep are constipated, and this 
condition must be relieved at once. A small addition of bran to the 



>- 
< 

z 


\- 

< 
o 

a. 
bl 

iii 
I 
in 


>■ 
< 


< 

o 

a. 
u 
iii 

i 


> 
< 

z 


u 

1- 
< 
u 

a. 

ui 
ui 
z 
v> 


> 
< 

z 


bl 

1- 
< 
O 

a. 

Ll 
UI 

z 


, 


a. 
u 

h 
< 






or 
u 

H 
< 

5 




a. 

iii 

< 

5 


->/- 


••;*■/-» 

a. 
u 

< 
5 




aaVA ONI033J NIVU9 


□ D i ' 


DDDD'DDDDDD 


>trfiH 



£3 ta 



-,sei- 



rt cj 

ft o 







: 






OJ 

-a 








-a 




+j 


H 




a 
m 
< 




u 
cd 

0) 




o 

a: 

3. 

Eh 


s 

J 

M 




> 




cd 






ft 




Q 




•/ 







a 




LU 




cd 






0) 

.a 




LI 




o 






s 


*3 




Ll 




•3 




oa 


4) 

2 




Ll 




B 




rt 


03 

.a 









— 




cd 








< 




•/. 


<n 














OJ 




z 


be 






a 


cj 
od 




< 




~ 




o 

— 


ft 




_J 




(h 










a. 


2 


03 
O 




— 


4) 






o 

EC 


— 

a 


DO 

if 


'3 


a 

E4 






o 
ft 

c 


be 
a 


a 


- 


a 

3 
J2 






'-z 


"3 


- 


a 


1 


14 






a. 


- 






3 














3 




a 


sd 


OJ 

2 


95 

od 


C 






o 

a 


O 




o 








c 








a 








O 







cd 


a 




cd 

V 




l 


- 


a 




e 








~ 


ba 




p_H 


3 


ft 


a 


— 


si 
SO 




05 


05 


OJ 


7. 


a 




o 


o 


cd 


OJ 

fit 


d 






* 


05 


o 

4= 


2 










05 




a 




a 

c 


a 
s 





a 
o 


•a 
a 


a 




■fj 








~ 






K 


sd 


3 










t- 


t> 


o; 






al 




Cj 
01 


OJ 


; 


ED 


s 


.a° 
u 




CJ 

3 


•a 

a 


o 





bl 


ft 

3 



grain ration is used with success by some feeders to cure this condi- 
tion. A sure method is to add flaxseed to the amount of about 2 
per cent of the grain ration and continue this during the balance 



84 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

of the feeding period. The addition of oil meal to the ration has 
also been found satisfactory in curing constipation. 

Every sheep feeder should be provided with a dipping vat and the 
sheep should be dipped as soon as they are received. It is very 
difficult to dip sheep properly in cold weather, but it is better to dip 
them in cold weather than to run the risk of carrying them through 
the feeding period without their being dipped. If the sheep are 
taken on in the fall they may be dipped without much trouble at a 
cost of about 2 cents a head, any of the standard commercial dips 
being satisfactory. 

If the sheep are received before bad weather and there is pasture 
available, they should be turned into this pasture until it is eaten 
short or until bad weather sets in. It is well to separate the sheep 
into the different ages or sizes in putting them into the yards; put 
those of an age or of a size together. Put all the poorest together 
so they may be given special care and attention. By so classifying the 
sheep they may be handled more easily and the small and weak will 
not be crowded out by the stronger ones. 

Be regular in your feeding. The sheep is a good timekeeper and 
appreciates getting its meals on time. Strict regularity in feeding 
is profitable. 

The amount of feed to give sheep is governed by their breed and 
age. The coarser and heavier breeds, consume more feed than the 
fine, light breeds. Lambs require less feed than mature sheep. The 
amount of hay is usually governed by feeding just what they clean 
up well. When they are first put into the pens they are fed hay 
only. After two or three weeks on hay only the grain is added, 
starting only a small amount per sheep — one-tenth of 1 pound per 
head per day — though with lambs it is well to start with less than 
this. This grain ration is increased very gradually until the equiva- 
lent of 1 pound of wheat per day for a mature sheep is given. 
This amount with all the alfalfa hay desired should be a full feed 
for fattening sheep. 

SHEEP RATIONS. 

Beginning with the ewes after the lambs have been weaned and n i 
soon as the milk flow has ceased, it is important to bring the i 
quickly into a strong, healthy condition in preparation for breedmg. 
It is a serious drain on the ewe to raise one, two, or three lambs, and 
nutritious food must be available to build her up. One of the most 
satisfactory feeds at this stage is rape. If rape is seeded early 
enough to permit it to mature so that the lower leaves and the tips of 
the upper leaves are turning yellow when it is needed for ewe pasture, 
it makes an ideal feed. Rape will not cause bloat if care is taken 



SHEEP. • 85 

when first turning sheep on it, and it seems to have a very beneficial 
effect on the sheep's inner organs. If no rape is available for the 
ewes, then other pasture, with the addition of a small amount of 
grain daily, will be satisfactory, though more expensive. The physi- 
cal condition of the ewe at time of breeding has an important bear- 
ing on the lamb crop both as to quality and quantity. For late fall 
and winter feeding of ewes alfalfa or clover hay with not over 2 
pounds per day per head of turnips, mangels, sugar beets, or silage 
will be good ; this will not put much fat on the ewes, but will keep 
them in fine condition. 

About one month before lambing time it is well to add grain to the 
ration. A good grain mixture is at the rate of \\ pounds of oats to 
1 pound of bran, giving each ew T e about a half pound of the mixture 
daily. Care should be taken not to feed sour or spoiled silage or 
frozen roots and silage, as such feed will at least cause abortion if not 
the death of the ewes. After lambing care must be taken to prevent 
milk fever, and this is best done by eliminating all grain from the 
ration for about three days, making no decrease in the roughage and 
roots. The grain may be returned gradually to the ration after 
the third day. 

Eations for lambs are governed by the market for which the lambs 
are being fitted. If they are the so-called hothouse lambs which come 
early and are to be prepared quickly for market, they should be given 
plenty of nutritious food and forced all possible. When the lambs 
are about two weeks old they will begin to nibble at the grain and 
roughage with their mothers. If it has been possible for you to 
save a few roots, they will be most valuable for the lambs at this 
time. If possible arrange to give the lambs special feed now in addi- 
tion to the mother's milk. This may be done by the use of lamb 
" creeps," which are partitions across ends or corners of the yard 
with cracks just wide enough to permit the lambs to creep through 
to eat of ground grain placed in troughs there for them. Choice 
bunches of alfalfa may also be placed for them to help hurry them to 
the market. 

If the lambs are of the regular late crop and to be utilized for 
winter feeding it is not necessary to give them special feed. The 
ewe's milk and alfalfa pasture w T ill put them in fine shape for winter 
feeding. 

In putting ewes and lambs on alfalfa pasture care must be taken 
to prevent loss by bloating. They should be well filled with cured 
hay before going on the alfalfa, and when once on the alfalfa should 
be left there unmolested. Do not attempt to drive them from the 
alfalfa to other fields for watering, as such a plan causes fermenta- 



86 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

tion of the food in their stomachs and bloating results. Fresh water 
must be available in the alfalfa pasture at all times. 

When the grain is harvested, the sheep may well be turned into 
the stubble to pick up lost grain and weeds. If sugar beets are raised, 
the sheep may be turned into the beet field after harvest, and they will 
make good gains on the beet tops. AH available pasturage should 
be availed of before cold and stormy weather sets in, when it will be 
necessary to confine the sheep to the yards and feed them the more 
expensive feeds. 

When the yard feeding begins, the sheep should be sorted as to 
size, and different sizes fed in separate yards. The breeding stock 
should be separated from the feeders. Mention has been made of 
rations for breeding ewes. The sheep that are to* be fattened may 
be started on a straight alfalfa hay ration, receiving all they will 
clean up well. As the feeding period advances, or after two or three 
weeks' time, grain may be added gradually to the ration, starting with 
only 1 to 2 ounces per head per day and increasing until the equiva- 
lent of 1 pound of wheat per head per day is given. The grain por- 
tion of the ration may be either wheat, oats, corn, or barley, or a mix- 
ture. 

Careful watch must be kept on the sheep to see that they are not 
affected by constipation. If the droppings are hard, dry, and black, 
some laxative should "be added to the ration ; this may be accomplished 
by adding a small amount of bran, oil meal, or flaxseed to the amount 
of 2 per cent of the grain ration. 

Sheep with good mouths are well equipped to grind their own 
grain, and nothing is gained by grinding it for them. If sheep with 
broken mouths are being fed, it will be necessary to provide ground 
grains, silage, roots, or beet pulp for them. 

Extensive experiments have shown that it is not safe to feed sugar 
beets or mangels to rams or wethers. It has been found that such 
roots cause gravel stones in the kidneys and bladders, and that rams 
and wethers can not pass these stones through the urinary canal and 
death results. Ewes may be fed mangels and sugar beets with good 
results. 

Be punctual in feeding sheep. Variations in time of feeding are 
as harmful as variations in quality or amount of feed. 

Have fresh, clean water before the sheep all the time ; this is highly 
important. 

Another important item is clean salt. Salt furnishes chlorine for 
the digestive juices of the stomach and aids the proper functions of 
the body organs. Without it indigestion will result. If given only 
at intervals, the sheep will eat too much, then drink too much water, 
and scouring results. Keep salt before the sheep constantly. 



SHEEP. 



87 



FATTENING SHEEP. 

Practically every article on the subject of feeding sheep contains 
the warning 1 to make gradual changes in and additions to the rations 
of the sheep. Particularly is it necessary to add concentrated feeds, 
like oats or corn, to the ration if the best results are to be had. A 
writer in an Oklahoma farm paper has gone more into detail on this 
point and has made out a very practical program to guide the feeder. 
The table he gives refers particularly to feeding of lambs, but the 
ration is plenty heavy for matured sheep. 

A plan that has proven very satisfactory with 60-pound lambs of 
normal thrift consists in starting the feeding of grain by giving 
1 pound for each 20 lambs the first day and increasing the feed 
1 pound per day for every 20 lambs, until the twentieth day, when 
they would be getting 1 pound per head per day. The following 
table sets forth the details of this plan, being a plan for starting 
100 lambs: 





Allowance of grain. 


Day. 


Allowance of grain. 


Day. 


Oats. 


Corn. 


Total 
grain. 


Oats. 


Corn. 


Total 
grain 


First 


Pounds. 
5 
10 
15 
20 
20 
20 
20 
20 
15 
10 


Pounds. 


Pounds. 
5 
10 
15 
20 
25 
30 
35 
40 
45 
50 


Eleventh 


Pounds. 


Pounds. 
55 
60 
• 65 
70 
75 
80 
85 
90 
95 
100 


Pounds. 
55 






Twelfth 




60 


Third 




Thirteenth 




65 






Fourteenth 




70 


Fifth 


5 
10 
15 
20 
30 
40 


Fifteenth 




75 


Sixth 


Sixteenth 




80 




Seventeenth 




85 


Eighth 


Eighteenth 




90 


Ninth 


Nineteenth 




95 


Tenth . 


Twentieth 




100 











Alfalfa or cowpea hay should be supplied according to the appe- 
tites of the animals. These legume roughages are needed when corn 
or a grain sorghum is the only concentrate fed. 

Thrifty lambs, weighing 60 pounds, will usually clean up readily 
all that is mentioned in the above table. However, the feeder should 
watch very carefully to be sure that they are cleaning up all that is 
given them; and if necessary, the plan should be altered to suit the 
appetites of the lambs. 



HOGS. 



HOGS ON THE IRRIGATED FARM. 



Any enthusiast who is contemplating going into the " swine-rear- 
ing " business can with a pencil and paper show you in 10 minutes 
how he will become a millionaire within a few years. He can prove 
it to 3 t ou, the facts on paper are incontrovertible, and the only argu- 
ment you can present is to ask yourself why all farmers who raise 
hogs are not millionaires. 

Farmers should realize, however, that hog profits are not altogether 
on paper. It is being demonstrated on practically every project by 
some few farmers that hogs can be raised with profit in excess of 
what may be reasonably expected from many other sources on the 
farm. 

Hog raising, like the other branches of live-stock business, should 
be taken up slowly and the necessary experience gained as the busi- 
ness increases. Many of the heavy losses in this work are due to 
enthusiasm getting the better of good judgment. Local conditions 
must be studied, and this includes market conditions. The safe plan 
is to start in a small way and increase your stock as your ability and 
equipment to handle the work increase. 

Do not accept the theory that you must have the most modern of 
buildings and equipment in order to successfully handle hogs. Some 
of the most serious failures in this work have been experienced by 
men who have invested thousands of dollars in buildings and equip- 
ment, but who lack experience and the necessary good judgment. 
Satisfactory quarters for hogs may be had without great expense. 

There is no best breed of hogs. Markets and other conditions 
should be considered in this connection, and it is well for a com- 
munity of farmers to join in raising the same breed of hogs, as this 
will lessen the expense of introducing new blood and facilitate mak- 
ing up carload shipments of uniform quality. 

One of the serious drawbacks to hog raising is hog cholera. Mil- 
lions of dollars are spent annually for cures for hog cholera, but these 
widely heralded cures are making but slow progress in stamping out 
this disease. Based on experiments made by the Department of 
Agriculture, which extend over a long period of years, and upon the 

88 



HOGS. 89 

observations and experience of our most practical hog raisers, it is 
recognized that the best safeguards against losses by hog cholera are 
measures which prevent the disease, and the greatest of these pre- 
ventative measures is just plain cleanliness. Try it. Keep your hog 
houses and yards clean and feed clean food. 

The old practice of shutting hogs in pens and feeding them refuse 
from the kitchen, corn, grain, and water is giving way to the better 
plan of pasturing hogs, running them on good forage, and thereby 
refusing the amount of high-priced grain necessary to put on fat. 
Many favorable reports are being circulated of results secured by 
running hogs on alfalfa pasture with addition of sufficient corn or 
small grain to make a balanced ration. The practice of hogging oif 
corn is also gaining in favor to the extent that what was once looked 
upon as a wasteful plan of harvesting corn is recognized as an eco- 
nomical method of feeding corn with the added advantage of having 
the manure evenly distributed over the fields. 

How to market the alfalfa crop is one of the serious problems on a 
number of the projects, and this question will not be satisfactorily 
settled until, the farmers are able to feed their entire alfalfa produc- 
tion. One of the quickest ways to get a pig to the packing plant is 
through a patch of alfalfa, but do not try to fatten hogs on alfalfa 
alone. Pigs will grow when pastured on straight alfalfa, but to put 
on fat at the least expense add a little grain to the daily ration. 

Hogs may be converted into cash as quickly as anything produced 
on the farm. There is always a demand for good pork. To start 
raising hogs requires but very little outlay of money, yet the returns are 
quick and the business grows rapidly. Run hogs in the stubble after 
you have taken off the grain; feed them what you cull out of your 
garden and out of the orchard ; you will always find a hog ready to 
eat and anxious to convert into pork much of the present waste on 
your farm. 

Hogs have paid off as many farm mortgages in the corn belt as 
all other departments of corn-belt farming combined, and they will 
be found just as efficient in meeting water-right payments. 

FEEDING HOGS. 

It is a well-established principle that the man who goes into the 
stock business strong when he thinks the conditions are just right and 
who goes out when he thinks the conditions are not just right seldom, 
if ever, prospers in the stock business. The men who prosper through 
live stock are those who consistently year after year handle sufficient 
live stock to consume the products of their fields. There is no merit 
in the plan of going into and out of stock work in an effort to outguess 
market conditions. A disadvantage of this plan is that any break in 



90 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

the handling of stock is a serious setback in the upbuilding of the 
farm droves and herds, and it fails to bring returns for the money 
invested in buildings and equipment year after year. Another condi- 
tion is that the farmer is rarely able to " guess " when he should go 
into and out of the business, and the result is he is usually out when 
he should be in. If you are going to handle live stock, make a perma- 
nent and continuous business. Use good judgment in what you feed 
and when you feed it, but keep everlastingly with the live stock and 
you will profit. 

The farmers on our projects are particularly well situated to handle 
hogs. You all have plenty of alfalfa, and it is an accepted fact that 
with alfalfa pasture as a basis for hog feeding and with the addition 
of small grain or corn in amounts to suit the particular period of 
the feeding, you have feed that will produce good pork as cheaply as 
it may be produced. 

While it is not desired to go into the details of experiments in feed- 
ing hogs on alfalfa pasture, it may be stated here that numerous tests 
have been made under all ordinary conditions, and the returns to be 
had from alfalfa pasture through pork range from $20 to above $80 
per acre after full allowance at market price has been made for all 
grain fed. This is a good return when it is considered that the hogs 
do the work. 

Following up these experiments tests are now being made in run- 
ning hogs on alfalfa pasture and requiring them to harvest in addi- 
tion their own small grain or corn. The present status of these ex- 
periments tends to show that the hog has no objection to acting as a 
grain harvester or corn husker, and the farmer will save what he has 
heretofore spent in shucking corn and thrashing grain for hogs. 

Year after year hogs have heretofore returned profits to the farm- 
ers under conditions not nearly so favorable as our farmers may now 
take advantage of. There is no reason why our farmers should let 
up in hog raising or feeding. The returns and profits will be in ac- 
cordance with the skill and knowledge applied, and the profits should 
be such as to encourage them to stay in a work which they are as well, 
or better, situated to handle as the average farmer of this country. 

HOG RATIONS. 

Due to the fact that hogs are raised to some extent on practically 
every American farm and to the universal use of these animals in 
marketing field crops it is probable that more has been written on the 
subject of hog rations than on any other feeding topic. Because of 
the great amount of information to be had on this subject no attempt 
will be made in this article to cover the subject in a general way, but 
rather simple and effective methods under conditions on our projects 
will be pointed out. 



HOGS. 91 

On most of our projects we have alfalfa in plenty and this furnishes 
the best and most economical basis for hog rations. Alfalfa should 
be considered as a basis for a ration and not an entire ration. I have 
read accounts of hogs being marketed with profit after having eaten 
nothing but alfalfa until within a few weeks of the time of marketing. 
Hogs raised on a practically straight alfalfa ration require a longer 
time to reach full development and then go to market with poorer 
finish than is possible on a properly balanced ration. In addition, this 
increased time during which the hogs are held on the farm also 
increases the risks to the hogs from disease. 

Corn, wheat, barley, oats, field peas, and similar feeds are to be 
had at reasonable cost on all the projects. The best plan is for the 
farmer to utilize his alfalfa and the grain which is to be had most 
cheaply in his neighborhood, results considered. Corn and alfalfa 
make an ideal hog ration, and if both are available nothing is to be 
desired. If corn is scarce or high priced, wheat, barley, oats, peas, 
mixed or straight, or any one of them, may be utilized profitably with 
alfalfa. It is generally held that it is economical to grind all grain 
fed to hogs, and if grinding is not feasible the grain may be soaked. 

Beginning with the brood sow before farrowing time, a good ration 
would be free access to third cutting of alfalfa hay in racks, or 
alfalfa pasture, with from 1 to 2 per cent of the live weight of the 
sow in corn, wheat, or barley. Skim milk and slops from the kitchen 
may be added with good results. This ration will keep the sow in 
good condition and enable her to produce lusty pigs. The sow will 
not require food during the first 24 hours after farrowing, but give 
her plenty of clean water which is not cold. The first feed may well 
be a slop made of such ground grain as is available, starting with 
a small amount and increasing gradually until the maximum ration 
is reached about 30 days after farrowing. At this time she should 
be receiving daily about 4 to 44 per cent of her live weight in ground 
or soaked grain, with free access to third-cutting alfalfa or alfalfa 
pasture. If alfalfa hay is fed the addition of a few roots, such as 
sugar beet or mangel, will increase the milk flow. When the pigs 
are three to four weeks old they should be given access to slops made 
of ground grain and placed where the mature hogs can not reach it. 
This side feed for the pigs may be gradually increased until when 
they are 7 to 10 weeks of age they may be weaned. They should be 
able to make rapid gains on the grain and alfalfa pasture, giving 
them all the grain slop they will clean up quickly twice each day. 
On this kind of ration the pigs should be brought to weigh from 200 
to 250 pounds between March 1 and October or November. 

After the pigs are weaned the sows may be kept on alfalfa pasture 
and the grain ration reduced to a small amount, just enough to en- 
able the sow to regain her lost flesh. 



92 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

There are many variations to the above simple method of feeding 
hogs on our projects. Among these may be mentioned the hogging 
down of grain and corn. If the farmer has some experience with 
hogs and has properly arranged his fencing, he may profitably hog 
off small fields of grain, saving the thrashing bill and some labor. 

A great deal of attention is being given the self-feeder plan of feed- 
ing hogs, by which they are given free access to both grain and 
alfalfa. The best results from this plan appear to be had where 
several varieties of grain are available and the hogs may have their 
choice and mix their own feed. This plan is worth trying. The 
principal arguments in its favor are that it is a labor saver, in that 
the self-feeders are filled and this feature requires no attention until 
the feeder is emptied by the hogs. Also tests have shown that the 
hogs reach marketing condition with economical use of grain and in 
comparatively short periods of time. 

Under any plan of feeding there should be before the hogs at all 
times a mixture of wood ashes, air-slaked lime, sulphur, and cop- 
peras. A good mineral mixture recommended by the Department of 
Agriculture is: Charcoal, -1 bushel; hardwood ashes, 1 bushel; salt, 
8 pounds; air-slaked lime, 8 pounds; sulphur, 4 pounds; and cop- 
peras, 2 pounds. 

Hogs require plenty of fresh, clean water. During the hot months 
shades should be provided. A good plan is to make a roof of boards 
3 to 5 feet off the ground, leaving it open on all sides. 

Last, but not least, keep the feeding places clean. Cleanliness in 
feeding hogs is as important as in feeding other stock. The causes 
of many hog losses from disease are unclean quarters and feeding 
places. 

BE YOUR OWN BUTCHER. 

Many of us are going to be old-fashioned this fall and be our own 
butchers. In some sections it has been so long since farmers did their 
own butchering and meat curing that there are few who know just 
how to proceed. I have clipped from a current paper some sugges- 
tions for the farmer butcher, and they are given below. They tell 
in a short way about all that is necessary to secure well-cured meat on 
the farm. 

1. Wait for a spell of really cool, dry weather to butcher. 

2. Keep the hogs clean before as well as after killing. 

3. Never stick a hog on one side in the shoulder; it simply wastes good 
shoulder meat. Stick the middle of the throat. 

4. Do not stick too deep. 

5. Do not have the water hotter than 180° — better 150°. 

6. A little soft soap or wood ashes added to the water helps get the hair clean. 

7. Do not put cold water on the carcass until the last thing after it is com- 
pletely dressed. 



HOGS. 93 

8. Never allow meat to freeze that is to be cured. 

0. Always allow meat to stand at least 24 hours before salting. 

10. Use plenty of salt. 

11. Never use a vinegar or whisky barrel for meat. 

12. Keep meat covered with pickle at all times. 

13. Use a stone and not au iron to weight the meat down. 

14. Smoke the meat a little each day rather than for n long time at a stretch. 

15. Try and keep the smoke cumulating around the meat. 

16. A dash of red pepper on the fire adds to the flavor of the meat. 

17. Have enough, but not too much, creosote in the smoke. 

18. Keep meat out of the heat from the fire. 
10. Never wash the smoked meat. 

20. See that it is carefully packed in air-tight packages. 

21. Store it in a dry, cool place. 

CURING PORK. 

Missouri has long been famous for home-cured pork, and the fol- 
lowing rules for dry-cured and brine-cured pork are from a Missouri 
authority and surely must be reliable. 

DRY CURE. 

Do not cut up the pork till the carcass is well chilled. Make a 
mixture of clean, fine salt, 40 pounds; white or brown sugar, 10 
pounds; white or black pepper, 4 pounds; red pepper, one-half 
pound. This will make enough cure for about 1,000 pounds of pork. 
If saltpeter is desired, use 2 pounds in the above mixture. It will 
give a red color to the lean meat, but has a tendency to harden the 
meat too much. Chili saltpeter may be used instead of the regular 
saltpeter by taking about 20 per cent less. 

Rub each piece of meat thoroughly with the cure. Take special 
care to work the cure around the ends of bone of hams and shoulders. 
Pack skin down on a table or in a box in a cool, airy place. Do not 
place in direct sunlight or in a damp, musty cellar. After four or five 
days overhaul the meat, rub thoroughly with the cure, and repack; 
repeat this in about a week. Hams and shoulders should remain in 
the cure from one and one-half days to two days per pound weight of 
piece ; the latter time is safer for meat that is to be kept during the 
summer. Bacon should be in the cure a shorter time. Ten days will 
give a very nice mild cure to a 6 or 8 pound piece. 

BRINE CURE. 

Make a brine b} 7 boiling 7 pounds of clean salt and 2 pounds of white 
or brown sugar with 2 gallons of water. If saltpeter is desired, add 
one-fourth pound. This gives about enough to cover 100 pounds of 
pork when well packed. Sprinkle a little clean, fine salt in the bot- 
tom of the barrel, rub each piece of meat lightly with the salt, sprinkle 



94 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

a light layer of salt between each layer of meat. Put on a board and 
weight down with a rock. Allow to stand overnight. Tip barrel 
on side and allow the liquor to run out. Cover the meat with the 
cold brine and allow to stand in a cool place four or five days. Over- 
haul, repack, and cover with the same brine. Repeat in about a week. 
Give the meat the same length of time for curing as with the dry 
cure. 

When the curing is complete, wash off the excess cure and hang in 
the smokehouse. Meat kept in the cure too long should be soaked in 
ay arm water to remove the excess of the cure. Smoke with hickory, 
oak, apple, or any nonresinous wood. Avoid all wood of the pine 
family. With a continuous smudge the smoking can be completed in 
24 hours. With intermittent smoking, longer time is necessary, as 
cold meat " takes the smoke " slowly. Wrap the meat to keep it away 
from the skippers. If rats or mice get at the meat they open a way 
for skippers. In damp weather cured meats will mold. This is not 
injurious except it is advisable to use up shoulders, as the mold grows 
in the cracks and calls for extensive trimming. 

HOG CHOLERA. 

The warnings and necessary precautions against hog cholera are 
often placed before the public, but a repetition is never out of place. 
Here are the simple precautions recognized as necessary : 

1. Do not have hog lots near streams, highways, or railroads. 

2. Do not allow pigeons to feed in your hog lots. Keep crows and buzzards 
away. 

3. Quarantine all hogs brought to your place until you are sure they are free 
from cholera. 

4. Do not permit patent-medicine men to visit your hog lots ; they may just 
have left infected places. 

5. Disinfect your shoes, your clothes, wagon wheels, and horses' feet after 
hauling hogs to stockyards. 

6. Disinfect lots and buildings at least twice a year, using slacked lime and 
carbolic acid solution. 

The symptoms of cholera are several and include loss of appetite, 
lagging, staggering walk, abnormal thirst, coughing, vomiting, bleed- 
ing nose, sunken flanks, inflamed eyes, and sometimes constipation and 
sometimes diarrhea. 

On a number of Reclamation Service projects the Department of 
Agriculture has stationed agriculturists especially trained in animal 
husbandry, and the settlers on projects so favored can call upon the 
agriculturists when cholera is suspected and secure immediate aid in 
combating the disease. 

Some security can also be had through inoculation of the hogs. 



DAIRY STOCK AND DAIRYING. 



The subjects of dairy stock and dairy farming are now receiving 
much attention throughout the country, particularly in the newer sec- 
tions where dairying has not been followed and where dairy stock is 
now scarce. 

On many of the irrigation projects special effort is being made by 
individual farmers and by groups and associations of farmers to 
secure dairy stock. In many cases the settlers are short of funds and 
can not, without assistance, secure the cows considered necessary for 
the profitable working of their farms. In these cases business men 
and banks have come forward and advanced the funds, securing the 
return of the loan, with interest, by mortgages. 

In connection with the purchase of dairy stock, I want to impress 
upon the water users my ideas of the advantageous plan. To supply 
the dairy stock for our newer sections we must buy from other sec- 
tions where dairying has been followed for many years. In these 
older dairying districts the dairy business in all its details has been 
given close attention and there is constant effort to build up the dairy 
herds by eliminating therefrom cows which are unsatisfactory pro- 
ducers. There are thrown on the market each year in these estab- 
lished dairying sections many cows, good in appearance and con- 
forming in a general way to the physical requirements of good milch 
cows, but which are actually unsatisfactory producers. 

Dairy cows of proven merit are obtained only at a high premium. 
The purchaser of dairy cows must bear in mind that a matured cow 
of proven merit is not for sale in any place in the United States for 
the average price which the settler in the new sections can afford to 
pay. Consequently, if matured stock is purchased at fair prices, the 
chances are strong that such cows have been discarded from the older 
herds as being unsatisfactory producers. It is a poor investment to 
purchase on borrowed money, for which a high rate of interest is 
exacted, cows which are culls discarded from the herds of experi- 
enced dairymen. 

In my opinion, the most advantageous method of purchasing dairy 
stock is to send some good judge of such stock to a dairying section 
and have him purchase young stock, not yet producing. Out of this 
young stock a fair average of first-class milch cows will be secured 
and the poorest of the lot will probably develop into milch cows equal 

95 



96 HINTS FEOM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

in merit to the average that may be secured by purchasing matured 
cows at a fair price. 

To sum the matter up : If you purchase mature cows you will pay 
a handsome premium for those that have proven to be good producers 
or you will secure for a fair price the culls from the experienced 
dairyman's herd. If you purchase young stock you will secure some 
first-class cows, some fair cows, and some poor cows, but the average 
will be far above the average mature cow purchased and the invest- 
ment will be much less. 

To every farmer on the Government irrigation projects I say, by 
all means get some dairy stock. The importance of dairying in con- 
nection with better farming should not be overlooked. A careful 
review of the history of every section of our country fails to show 
one instance where dairying followed in a practical way has not 
worked out successfully to the permanent profit of the people so 
engaged. On the other hand, in sections where the farmers have 
devoted themselves entirely to producing and marketing cereal and 
similar crops the prosperity of the community has gradually 
decreased. 

Every agricultural publication of to-day is advocating dairy work 
and many good books are being written on this subject. Practically 
every agricultural expert throughout the country is in some measure 
talking in favor of dairying and stock raising in general. A number 
of arguments in favor of dairying are : 

It provides a cash income for the farmer 12 months in the year. 

It furnishes a sure and profitable market for forage and grain 
crops. 

It provides, through fertilizer, for the upkeep of the soil. 

It aids in the establishment of a system of crop rotation and diversi- 
fied farming to which every farmer should earnestly turn his at- 
tention. 

It must be kept in mind, however, that success in dairy work 
depends entirely upon the man. While the selection of good stock 
is generally considered the most important item, it is a fact that the 
care of the stock, the vigilant methods employed in feeding and herd 
improvement and the businesslike handling of the dairy products 
are necessary to success with the best stock that can be secured. 

Get some dairy stock, make your plans well ahead, handle the work 
in a businesslike and thorough manner, and you will be recompensed 
well and permanently 

DAIRY COW RATIONS. 

I recently read a description of a plant which fastens itself to 
telephone and telegraph wires and, with no means of subsistence 
other than it can secure from the air, it grows and multiplies. 



DAIRY STOCK AXD DAIRYING. 97 

There is great demand for a breed of milch cows which will sup- 
port themselves by some such simple process. I have known some 
farmers — not many, of course — who appeared to be trying to accus- 
tom their cows to such a means of livelihood. 

The milch cow should be considered a manufacturing plant — noth- 
ing more or less. What you take from a cow is governed directly 
by what you put into the cow. It is true some cows are more effi- 
cient than others, just as some manufacturing plants are more efficient 
than others. You need not expect large yields of milk from cows 
which you feed unnutritious material any more than you could expect 
to get grain by running thrashed straw through a separator. 

The cow is so constituted that she can digest and assimilate about 
double the amount of food necessary to maintain her body. When 
the cow is furnished with all the food she can digest and assimilate, 
the excess over the amount utilized in maintaining her body is turned 
into fat or milk. A good dairy cow turns this excess into milk, and 
a beef type cow adds fat to her body. It should be understood that 
the cow first utilizes all the food necessary to maintain her body 
before devoting any to fat or milk production. Therefore, in order 
to secure the maximum amount of milk it is necessary to provide the 
cow with all the food she can utilize. 

As fully important as quantity of food is quality of food. Any 
manufacturing plant turning out a product must have the raw 
materials in proper proportions as well as sufficient quantities. If 
the finished product is composed of both wood and steel, you need 
not expect efficiency from the factory if you furnish all wood and 
no steel materials nor if you furnish half enough wood and double 
the amount of steel necessary. 

Milk is composed of certain fixed ' elements, and the foods fur- 
nished the cow must contain protein, carbohydrates, and fats in 
proper proportions if the cow is to do her best work. Those who 
have made a study of milk production generally agree that the pro- 
portion of these elements should be about one of protein to five and 
a half or six of carbohydrates and fats. It will be found that cows 
vary with regard to the amounts of the raw materials they require 
to secure good results. Some cows make more efficient use of hay 
than others, and the same is true of grains and more concentrated 
foods. These variations are particularly noticeable between the 
different breeds of dairy cows. The skilled dairyman discovers 
these variations and uses the feeds he has to the best advantage. 

Pasture is an important item in dairy cow rations. In starting 
cows on pasture in the spring they should be allowed to graze only a 
few hours each day, and the time of grazing- may be extended gradu- 
ally. The first growths of pasture are usually watery and compara- 

56728°— 18 7 



98 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

tively low in nutriment. Unlimited access to this kind of pasturage 
is liable to disarrange the cow's digestive organs and usually a bad 
taste is noticeable in the milk. The grain ration should be continued 
for a time after the cows are started on grass, and the grain gradually 
decreased as the pasture becomes stronger until when the pasture is 
at its best no grain is required for good results. 

As the pasture dries up in the late summer and fall the cows should 
be given a little green fodder, alfalfa, clover, or other succulent food 
to prevent a let down in the milk production and a shortening of the 
milking period. 

As the pasturing season draws to an end the ration should be 
changed gradually to cured hay, with silage or roots and a small 
allowance of grain. 

On all of our irrigation projects alfalfa hay is available, and this 
is a great boon to the dairy farmer. When good alfalfa hay is to 
be had there is no use in spending money for the high-priced pro- 
tein feeds, such as bran, oil cake, etc. 

Some of our dairymen feed nothing but alfalfa hay during the 
winter months, and they stoutly maintain their returns are as good as 
may be secured by adding silage or grain or both to the ration. Ex- 
periments have demonstrated some very fine results from alfalfa 
straight, but there is the important matter of continuously main- 
taining the cow in the best of bodily strength in and out of the milk- 
ing period and enabling her to produce lusty calves. To do this it is 
important that food elements not present in alfalfa hay be supplied, 
and it is economy to round out the ration by proper portions of silage 
or roots and grain. This follows the idea of supplying the proper 
food in the proper proportion to secure the most efficient use of the 
cow's powers of digestion and assimilation. 

A method considered good by successful dairymen is to give the 
cow all the alfalfa hay she will use, add 1 pound of silage or roots 
for each pound of milk produced daily, and 1 pound of grain for 
each 3 pounds of milk produced daily. This is, of course, a full 
day's ration. 

Use particular care in the periods of change from one ration to 
another. Make no sudden changes; one food should be replaced 
gradually by another. And when you feed the cows smile just as 
you do when you go to the bank to secure a loan — the cow is more 
susceptible and responsive to smiles than any banker. 

WINTER FEEDS. 

In view of the strong demand for grains to be used as human food, 
it is well for our farmers to figure out live-stock rations as near grain- 
less as may be and still insure thrift and growth during the winter. 



DAIEY STOCK AND DAIRYING. 



99 



A recent issue of the Agricultural Digest contains the following 
article on legumes, and it should be good news to our alfalfa growers 
to learn that this plant of plenty heads the list of valuable legumes, 
and, in comparison with high-priced feeds, makes a remarkable 
showing. 

LEGUMES FOR DAIRY COWS. 

The dairyman who raises an abundance of leguminous roughage 
establishes a basis for an economical home-grown ration which makes 
it unnecessary for him to purchase protein-rich feeds, according to the 
United States Department of Agriculture. Good, properly cured 
hay from any of the common legumes has a high percentage of digesti- 
ble protein. 

The following table shows the comparative values of several com- 
mon roughages and concentrates : 

[Per acre.] 



Crop. 



Yield. 



Digestible 
protein. 


Digestible 
carbohy- 
drates. 


Digestible 
fat. 


530 


1,950 


45 


393 


1,011 


30 


190 


982 


45 


132 


740 


60 


292 


980 


30 


436 


1,538 


28 


207 


917 


38 


60 


850 


24 


176 


2,400 


112 


250 


832 


60 


138 


1,3N0 


70 


360 


1,209 


42 



Total of 
nutrients 
(fatX2i). 



Alfalfa hay 

Cowpea hay 

Red-clover hay 

Peanut vines, nuts removed . 

Soy-bean hay 

Sweet-clover hay 

Oat-and-pea hay 

Timothy hay 

Corn silage . '. 

1 ton bran 

1 ton corn meal 

Velvet beans 



2,581 
1,471 
1,273 
1,007 
1,3:19 
2.337 
1,209 
970 
2, 828 
1,217 
l,b76 
1,663 



This table shows that an acre of good alfalfa furnishes twice as 
much protein as a ton of bran, four times as much as a ton of corn 
meal, and nine times as much as an acre of timothy. When the ration 
consists of an abundance of silage and good legume hay, cows of 
moderate production often require but little grain. Cows which give 
more than 25 or 30 pounds of milk daily require the addition of 
concentrates if high production is to be maintained. In view of the 
probable shortage in grains, all dairymen should make every effort 
to provide an abundance of leguminous hay by growing legumes 
suitable to their soils and sections. 



EFFICIENCY VARIATIONS IN COWS. 

Recent experiments conducted on the Truckee-Carson project by 
the Department of Agriculture show in a marked way the variation 
in the efficiency of different cows in turning feed into milk. It is 
believed worth while to make the results of this experiment known 
to all our water users. 



100 



HINTS FKOM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 



In this experiment the price of skim milk was placed at 25 cents 
per 100 pounds; butter fat at 26.6 cents per pound; third cutting of 
alfalfa was used. 



Xame. 


Months 
since 
fresh. 


Hay 
required to 

produce 
100 pounds 

of milk. 


Hay 
required to 

produce 
1 pound of 
butter lat. 


Value of 

product 

per ton 

of hay 

consumed. 




7 
6 

10J 
6 
7 
S 
4 
4 
3 


164.7 
244.0 
244.0 
105.0 
500.0 
221.0 
144.0 
196.0 
154.3 


41.18 
31.04 
59.50 
21.50 
83.30 
39.40 
28.90 
36. 40 
30.28 


$15. 94 




lti. 40 




10.98 




29. 56 




7.38 




15.74 




21.82 




17. 08 




20. 6S 







It will be noted that one cow paid $29.56 per ton for the hay while 
another paid only $7.38. Get acquainted with your cows; it might 
be profitable. 

KEEP THE CALVES. 

If you profit by the experience of those who have been " through 
the mill," you will work into the dairy business slowly, " grow into it 
rather than go into it." Also you will find there is no better plan 
than that of raising your own dairy stock. 

The idea of a great many people is that when they get matters 
fixed just right they will buy up a good bunch of dairy cows, and 
from then on their principal occupation will be cashing cream checks. 
The majority of men successful in dairy work did not succeed by 
any such plan. As a matter of fact, most of the failures in this 
work have been men who started out with an unknown bunch of 
cows that other people were glad to dispose of. 

The right way is to start with one, two, or three really good cows — 
know that you are getting something good, even though it costs con- 
siderable extra. Use the best available sire on these good cows and 
keep the heifer calves. 

On the average, when you buy a dairy heifer you pay the other 
man a profit over what it has cost him to raise the heifer, and still 
you don't know just what you are buying. It averages cheaper and 
safer, therefore, to raise your own dairy heifers. 

Several of the State experiment stations have experimented and 
given out figures on the costs of raising dairy heifers. The costs as 
given out in the bulletins are surprising in that it is shown that it 
costs as much as $60 to $70 to bring a heifer up to 2 years of ago. 
These figures have discouraged many farmers from endeavoring to 
raise their own heifers. They reckon they can buy the heifers at 



DAIEY STOCK AND DAIRYING. 101 

2 years of age cheaper than they can raise them, and they take no 
risks of loss in the raising. This would be good reasoning if farm- 
ers were in the habit of utilizing every item of what is raised on 
the farm, and also if they could be reasonably sure the dairy heifers 
they can buy are worth anything at all above their value as beef. 
On the average farm the feed necessary to raise two or three heifers 
is not an important factor, as the average farmer wastes several 
times that amount every year. 

It is a recognized fact that the value of a dairy cow is governed 
largely by the care and skill used in bringing her to the productive 
age. It is not enough that the heifer merely lives through the first 
two years. It is very important that she be kept in prime condition 
throughout this period and that she be handled in such manner as to 
insure her development into a cow of good disposition. Here lies 
the great advantage in raising your own dairy stock. Bring them up 
in the way they should go, and they will not depart therefrom. Do 
not get worried about what it costs to raise dairy stock; you can 
raise them for your own use better and cheaper than anyone else if 
you use good judgment. 

There is one best way to get into the dairy farming work. Start 
with one, two, or three good cows, use a good sire, and keep the heifer 
calves. 

"H/HEA/ THE COWS COME HOME? 

»VLr*?ccfJcrw-^^'v= <: jf?c>£y'Scr.vDWsr^*yo r,5£!S 

6ffHct?OPt^«'Der.il70f .i.ljUWK? &-> C.CWO >? It AW&//V& 

«c*7C>C?**<='Cvtc?'vn«r-C7C>G'ra<=4 : ?oey < vV-:^'c 1 iyT« O^/ /Ac sir- cv»T oca \^c^r> 

*v* jXTfttl C? "vBc?!? C> C VJtotv 1 ti S? *v3 c=S? Ci W v«c2W O 6? 

^Ert?C>cy'v5£?v?C>e >r ^7£?CiC?'vac2I7c>G , ^?t7C}C? 

TH/S P/CTUHE SHOWS 
eXACTi-V HOW M/Wr COWS 

or the: poo* «,hd ,t tmes 

o W£^cWTJic^oc<s^;?ot?'KL=wc>(?'a=*70 TO PETUPM /OEMT/CALLY" THE 

^OC7Cl C M*=?w> Ci .? S 3 cz^ Cs fc? V= CSC7 ^ t? ^ zr V c> C7 

(y&wwsty cs>w?f. ^c^rPE.ev.i£T[?ciPOo SAME PPOP/TAS 

c*Aai?«c-'^^C"r.ic-t7oc>T5£rti-t,G , ^rrt^DC"^ TWE/VTV-E/YE GOOD COWS. 



/(?,?/ COWS s4V£-RS\G//VG 
/33£/.SS. OP EXT PEf? rErtf?. (/U..C/K. //8) 



HORSES. 



BALKY DRIVERS. 



You have heard the old saying, " There are more balky drivers 
than balky horses," and it is in the spring of the year that the truth 
of this statement is " rubbed in." As spring comes on the farmer 
who has rested and fattened up takes on a sudden spurt of energy 
and activity. His first idea is usually to hitch up the team and do 
something he should have done last fall. He interrupts the attempts 
of the horses to get a living from the cornstalks and straw stacks, 
hustles them into harness grown stiff from nonuse, and make them 
do three days' work the first day when they are not in condition to 
live comfortably without working. 

Of course the man by his unreasonable spurt makes himself lame 
in the back and all his muscles, and usually takes on a case of spring 
" snuffles," but our sympathies are with the horses. Pushed into 
heavy work without even a few days' preparation by feed and care, 
any horse is in bad shape to stand the hard strain of field spring 
work. The result is gradual loss of flesh and strength and increas- 
ing nervousness for the horse. The farmer then crams into the horse 
heavy feeds of grain — part of which should have been given before 
the hard work started — and the condition of the horse is seldom 
helped, and quite often made worse, by the burden added to its 
digestive organs, which are sensitive at all times. It is from such 
conditions that what we call "balky horses" are developed, but this 
term is usually a libel on the horse. When we say " balky horse," 
we mean "balky driver," if we understand the real cause of the 
trouble. 

To start an unconditioned horse suddenly into heavy work is like 
starting a locomotive by throwing the throttle wide open — the effect 
on both is the same. Remember your horse is a highly sensitive 
piece of machinery and should be treated accordingly. Any lack of 
care of the horse means a .corresponding loss in the efficiency of the 
horse. 

Don't be a balky driver. 
102 



HORSES. 103 

HORSE RATIONS. 

The people of this country have acquired the opinion that there are 
only a few items of food suited for horse rations. In certain sections 
of the country it is held that only timothy hay and corn or timothy 
hay and oats make a proper work-horse ration. Other sections of the 
country are willing to substitute corn leaves, alfalfa, bluestem, or oat 
hay for the timothy hay and in some sections crushed barley is used 
instead of oats or corn. 

It would be surprising to some to learn that in some countries 
horses must live on dried fish and vegetable mold ; in other countries 
milk, flesh balls, eggs, and broth made of sheep heads make up the 
principal food of horses. In some parts of India salt, pepper, and 
other spices are mixed with flour and butter, made into small balls, 
and thrust down the horse's throat. These do not, of course, cover the 
wide range of items entering into horse rations, but they serve to 
show that we in this country are a little conservative in our ideas of 
what horses should eat. 

Farmers should bear in mind the important differences between 
horses and other farm animals, an4 particularly the point that work 
horses are expected to withstand long-continued physical exertion, 
whereas cattle, sheep, and hogs are expected only to produce growth 
and fat. 

The horse has but one stomach and this is limited in capacity. This 
makes it imperative that horses on hard work be furnished with food 
of nutritious and strength-giving character but small in bulk. 

Horse rations suited to sections other than our Reclamation Service 
projects will not be considered in this article. On these projects 
alfalfa is the principal roughage produced and available for horses. 
On most of the projects the production of corn has not advanced 
sufficiently to make corn the principal grain food. Oats may be 
grown to advantage on most of the projects. Alfalfa and oats will, 
in the main, make up the horse ration for horses on heavy work on 
our projects. 

As a general rule, a horse on hard work should not be given more 
hay than grain by weight. Where corn is available 10 pounds of 
alfalfa, 8 pounds of corn, and 2 pounds of oats make an excellent daily 
ration for a work horse weighing from 1,000 to 1,200 pounds. The 
amount of the rations may be changed proportionately for lighter or 
heavier horses. It should not be taken that all horses weighing 1,000 
pounds should be given the same ration. Horses vary as to the amount 
of food required just as people vary in this respect. High-strung and 
nervous horses require more food than placid and gentle horses — 
due, of course, to the increased wear and tear on their bodies caused 
by the tension under which they work. If corn is not available, 



104 



HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 



fairly good rations may be figured on the basis of 1 pound of oats 
and 1 pound of alfalfa to each 100 pounds of horse per day. 

During winter months or periods of idleness on the part of the 
horses, a portion of the alfalfa may be replaced by oat straw and the 
grain ration may be reduced materially or discontinued altogether, 
depending upon the length or duration of the idle period. 

Many farmers are able to bring their horses through the winter in 
fair shape on alfalfa hay and oat straw. The grain should be re- 
placed gradually in the ration, however, as the period of hard work 
approaches and the horses gradually worked into heavy work. This 
will prevent upsetting the sensitive digestive systems of the horses 
and secure the best returns from the rations. 

When you have determined just how much corn, oats, and hay 
your horses need, you may increase the efficiency of the ration by 
adding a little kindness. 




Blooded horse on a reclamation project. 



POULTRY. 



POULTRY RATIONS. 



If there is one subject that is overworked in our farm papers it is 
poultry raising. Every farm paper you pick up has its " Poultry 
pointers," " Pin feathers," " Poultry for profit," and " Swat the 
rooster " department. My only excuse for venturing a few remarks 
on poultry rations is that most of the said articles on poultry advo- 
cate feeding patent feed mixtures with high-sounding names and 
correspondingly elevated prices. 

The average farm produces feed which may be utilized to good 
advantage from the time a chicken is hatched until it is marketed. 

After hatching, a young chick should not be given food for a period 
of 24 to 48 hours; then it may be fed a mixture of rolled oats, cracked 
wheat, barley, buckwheat, cracked corn or kaffir corn, millet, hem}), 
or such of these grains as may be had conveniently. Chicks should 
not be given a straight ration of one grain only; safety lies in a mix- 
ture, which prevents indigestion. This mixed grain fed dry with 
milk to drink will make chickens out of chicks in a hurry. In a 
short time the wheat may be fed whole instead of cracked and the 
corn given in coarser shape. Do not overfeed during the first month ; 
keep the chicks ready to come when you call. After that time the 
self-feeder style of feeding may be followed to advantage. 

After the chickens are a month to six weeks old a feeding once 
each day of a mash made up of a mixture of grains and skim milk 
will be effective. Skim milk will take the nlace of meat scraps, and 
it is a very important part of the ration. 

In feeding poultry, as in feeding cows, sheep, hogs, or other live 
stock, you must furnish food suited to secure the desired results. 
For example, a ration heavy in corn is fine for putting flesh on chick- 
ens, but it is not suited to egg production. Eggs contain a large per- 
centage of protein, and this element must be plentiful in the ration 
for laying hens. A great egg-producing ration is alfalfa leaves 
steamed with a little corn meal and cracked wheat fed once each day 
and another feeding the same day of grain in litter to be scratched for. 

Chickens must have water, fresh water ; they must have grit at all 
times; and ground bone and charcoal are important additions. 

Do not think you have to have all the advertised chicken feeds. 

They are probably made up of material you have right on the farm; 

make up a mixture and name it yourself. 

105 



FEEDING POINTERS. 



FEEDING ALFALFA HAY. 

Feeders should always have in mind the constituents of the various 
feeds they use and know the results obtained from a proper use of 
these constituents. In a general way live stock require a ration 
containing proper portions of proteids, fats, and carbohydrates. A 
lack of any one or two of these constituents can not be made up by 
an excess of other constituents, and feeding excessively of proteids 
in an effort to make up for lack of fats or carbohydrates is likely 
to work harm on the live stock rather than benefits. Alfalfa con- 
tains proteids, fats, and carbohydrates, but not in proper proportion 
to form a ration, and should not be expected, therefore, to be en- 
tirely suited to the production of growth, milk, and fat. The prin- 
cipal food constituent of alfalfa is protein, and to make a balanced 
ration for the average animal there should be added to this some 
food high in digestive fats and carbohydrates, like corn. Where 
corn is not to be had reasonably good substitutes may be found in 
the proper use of kaffir corn, barley, wheat, oats, and rye, though 
the results will not be identical. 

ALFALFA FOR HORSES. 

The greatest objection to alfalfa hay is found among horsemen, 
who claim that it produces ill effects on the organism of the horse. 
This objection arises from an improper use of a good horse feed. 
The " soft " condition and the excessive urination of alfalfa-fed 
horses are the result of feeding too much alfalfa. Fed in proper 
quantities alfalfa hay makes an ideal feed for horses. ' The amount 
should be limited to about 12 pounds per day for a thousand-pound 
horse or about 20 pounds for a fifteen hundred-pound horse, and the 
ration should be rounded out by the use of such grain as the farmer 
has to balance the ration. Horses new to alfalfa should be started in 
on a small amount, which should be gradually increased until the 
full feed is reached. 

ALFALFA FOR BEEF CATTLE. 

Alfalfa works to great advantage in feeding beef cattle. If the 
hay is high priced and other feeds like corn and silage compara- 
106 



FEEDING POINTERS. 107 

tively cheap, the cattle may be given heavy feeds of the corn or 
silage and then a small amount of alfalfa hay, or if the hay is com- 
paratively cheap the cattle may be given free access to it with a 
small grain ration added. A full alfalfa feed for a mature steer 
is from 30 to 35 pounds p°ir day. 

ALFALFA FOR DAIRY COWS. 

The best returns from alfalfa hay are probably realized in feeding 
it to dairy cows. This plant loses none of its good qualities in cur- 
ing, and good, clean alfalfa hay is as strong a producer of milk as 
is summer pasture. For the best production of milk and upkeep of 
the cows the hay should be supplemented by ground grains and 
roots where obtainable. If alfalfa is fed with proper amounts of 
concentrates and succulent roots, a thousand-pound milch cow will 
profitably utilize from 20 to 25 pounds of hay per day and heavier 
cows larger quantities in proportion. 

ALFALFA FOR HOGS. 

Alfalfa pasture is widely advertised as the ideal pork producer, 
and in this connection alfalfa hay should not be overlooked. The 
third or last cutting is considered best for the hogs, as they relish 
the finer stems and leaves. In case of a long feeding period, it is 
well to give the hogs a large amount of hay to start with and sup- 
plement it with a small amount of grain. The amount of hay may 
be reduced gradually and the amount of grain accordingly increased. 
The use of a considerable amount of hay in the early part of the 
feeding period tends to expand the digestive tract of the hog and 
enables it to utilize large quantities of concentrates later on. 

ALFALFA FOR SHEEP. 

Gains may be put on sheep more economically with alfalfa hay as 
the basis of the ration than with any other feed widely obtainable 
in this country. Both lambs and aged sheep thrive on the hay, and 
it gives them a vigor not imparted by other feeds. Sheep may be 
profitably wintered on straight alfalfa hay, but for fattening pur- 
poses it is well to add grain and roots. The sheep to be fattened 
should be started on alfalfa hay alone and the grain started later, 
beginning with a very small amount for each sheep. For an average 
lamb 3 pounds of hay per day will be a full feed, while for the larger 
aged sheep 4 and -H pounds will be utilized. 

ALFALFA FOR POULTRY. 

The leaves and fine stems of alfalfa hay make a valuable addition 
to the poultry ration. A most excellent poultry feed may be made 



108 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

from the leaves and fine stems, or chopped alfalfa, increased in bulk 
about one-fourth to one-third by ground corn and then steamed. 

ALFALFA FOR BROOD STOCK. 

Mares, cows, ewes, and sows when kept for breeding purposes 
should by all means have alfalfa in their ration. Alfalfa is a bone 
and muscle builder and its laxative tendency, coupled with its cool- 
ing effect on the blood, fit it particularly for use during gestation 
periods. 

FEEDING ROOTS. 

The feeding of sugar beets, mangels, carrots, turnips, and other 
succulent roots has never gained the favor in this country that it has 
in some European countries, where great excellence has been secured 
in various types of farm animals. Our farmers have not felt that 
they need to furnish such feed to their live stock and have favored 
feeds requiring less labor to produce and place before the stock. Of 
late years silage has been found to add the desired succulence to the 
live-stock ration. Where good silage is not available, however, 
farmers should' not overlook the advantage of feeding roots. 

The common run of roots contain from TO to 90 per cent water, and 
the proportion of real food in roots is low when compared with alfalfa 
hay or grain, but the benefits from feeding roots are not so much in 
the food contents of the roots as in the effect they have on the balance 
of the ration and the favorable condition the}' effect on the organism 
of the animal. 

Fed to dairy cows during the winter months, roots increase the milk 
flow and assist in keeping the hard-working digestive organs in prime 
condition. Fed to sheep with a fattening ration, the benefits are 
readily apparent, as the dangers of constipation are obviated and a 
relish for the balance of the ration is maintained. Care should be 
exercised in feeding roots to horses, particularly horses being worked, 
as the laxative effect will be found objectionable. A few carrots each 
day. however, will be greatly enjoyed by the horse and good will result. 

For hogs and cattle being fattened it is well to start the fattening 
period with a liberal supply of sugar beets, mangels, or possibly tur- 
nips, as it will be found that better results will be had from the high- 
priced concentrates used in the latter part of the feeding period after 
the roots are to a great extent taken from the ration. 

Experiments have shown that the flesh of animals fed heavily on 
roots is much softer than that of animals not receiving succulent feed, 
and on this account there is objection on the part of some people to 
feeding roots. It will be found, however, that if the feeding of roots 
is properly regulated as to quantity and gradually decreased as the 






FEEDING POINTERS. 109 

feeding period advances there will be no objection to this feed on 
account of making soft meat. 

Because of the softening effect roots may have on the flesh of ani- 
mals they are particularly valuable when fed in proper amounts to 
brood sows, mares, ewes, and cows, as the pliable flesh appears to be 
a condition favoring the easy birth of lusty young animals. 

Don't try to make a full ration out of roots alone ; use them to sup- 
plement the high-priced dry feeds. 

Don't be misled by statistics showing that more feed units may be 
secured at less cost by growing grain or forage than is possible bj' 
growing roots. As stated, the main benefit from feeding roots is the 
efficiency given to other and high-priced feeds and the good effects of 
succulent food on the digestive organs of the live stock. 

If you are not in position to furnish your stock with good silage, 
you should plan to grow some roots to add to your feeding rations 
next winter. 

FEEDING KINDNESS. 

A corn-belt farmer on being asked what he fed his milch cows, re- 
plied. " corn and roughness." It is an unfortunate fact that on many 
farms roughness is administered to the live stock out of proportion 
to the needs of the animals. The roughness may be supplied through 
the medium of a milk stool, boot toe, whips, dogs, and " cuss " words, 
either or all. In any event it imbalances the ration and the live 
stock is not a source of profit. 

I have a friend who is undertaking to raise hogs on quite a large 
scale as a new venture. The men employed on the ranch are not 
accustomed to hog raising and have not been overly partial to the 
" mortgage lifters." Just a few days ago the owner saw one of the 
men abusing a valuable brood sow and the man was promptly " fired." 
The owner then made the incident the subject of a lecture to the re- 
maining men, and he told them in effect that he was running a hog 
ranch and not a man ranch; that he expected to make his profit out 
of the hogs and if the stock was abused his profit was lost and the 
ranch a failure. He was right. 

You may figure out the best mixture of grain and forage and pro- 
vide the best of shelter for your stock, but unless you mix in a goodly 
proportion of kindness you are not going to get maximum returns. 
If you don't like live stock, don't try to raise live stock ; you will be 
miserable and so will the animals. If you have to beat the cow with 
the milk stool before you can settle down to milking, there is no use 
of your weighing the milk and applying the Babcock test to see 
whether the cow is profitable — she can't be profitable, and it is not 
the cow's fault, either. If your hogs are so distrustful of you that 



110 



HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 



you have to get some one else to call them, you won't make money 
raising hogs. If your horse trembles and shrinks when you come 
near, it is a sure sign the horse has been in bad company. 

One of the biggest of the condensed milk companies advertises that 
it sells milk produced by "contented cows." I like to trade with 
people who keep contented cows. It pays to keep the live stock con- 
tented. Size up your neighborhood and you will see that the man 
whose live stock is willing to stay at home is making money out of 
that live stock, while the man whose stock will go through any kind 
of a fence to get away from home condemns live stock because it 
doesn't pay. 

Be kind to the pigs, colts, calves, and lambs, and you will have 
live stock easy to handle and economical to keep. On some farms 
there is no such thing as " breaking " horses. The colts are handled 
from birth and they never dispute the authority of the owner. Feed 
a little kindness; you will enjoy it as much as the live stock. Kind- 
ness with stock has the same effect as "taffy" and blarney with 
men — it will get the desired results where " roughness " would start a 
riot. Feed kindness. 




Friends. 



FARM ACCOUNTS. 



INVENTORY AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT. 

For a number of years there has been general agitation on the sub- 
ject of farmers keeping accounts. This subject is discussed at practi- 
cally every farmers' institute and every agricultural publication 
devotes pages and pages every year telling the farmers to keep books. 
As a rule farmers have not taken kindly to this proposition. They 
have been getting along without keeping books, and they think they 
might just as well continue without bookkeeping. They argue thai 
keeping books won't make the fields more fertile or their live stock 
more prolific, and if they are going into business they might as well 
move to town and run a grocery store. 

The facts are, however, that farmers who keep books are as a rule 
more successful than farmers who do not keep records. Successful 
farming of to-day is based on careful planning, and careful planning 
is impossible without definite knowledge and records of what the fields 
and live stock have produced under certain conditions in the past. 
Farming is not the free and easy life, so far as business is concerned, as 
farmers of 50 years ago made it. Profits in farming to-day are the re- 
sult of sharp, certain taking advantage of conditions and markets. You 
must know the producing power of every acre of your land and every 
animal you feed before you can rightly call yourself a real farmer. 

Bookkeeping on the farm is simple. You don't need a diploma 
from a business college in order to keep records of your business. 

Any farmer can revise the following plan of accounts to suit his 
farm and plan of operation; the idea is to show how simple and yet 
how useful these records are. 

April 1 is a good time to start the year's records on the farm. At 
that time our average farmer has about cleaned up last year's crops 
and work and is starting out afresh. 

The first thing to do is to take an inventory to find out just what 
we have on hand and how much we are worth financially. Just sit 
down and make up a list of your property and your debts. Put down 
everything, and I warrant you will find you are not so poverty 
stricken as you have supposed. My most urgent suggestion about 
farmers keeping books is " Bo it now." Following this there is a 
convenient form for a farmer's inventory and financial statement. 

Ill 



112 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FAEMER. 

FARMERS' INVENTORY AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT, APRIL i, 1915. 
Assets : 

Farm and improvements, including water right on which three 

payments have been made. 60 acres, at $80 per acre $4, 800. 00 

Cash in bank 120.00 

Grains and produce: 

Wheat in bins. 100 bushels, at $1 $100. 00 

Alfalfa in stack. 18 tons, at $5 90. 00 

Potatoes, stored. 100 bushels, at 30 cents 30. 00 

Corn in bins, 95 bushels, at 60 cents 57. 00 

Oats in bins, 300 bushels, at 40 cents 120. 00 

Miscellaneous produce (vegetables, meals, etc.) 100.00 

497. 00 

Live stock : 

3 brood mares, at $185 555. 00 

2 yearling coirs, at $75 150. 00 

1 driving horse (sometimes used in field) 150. 00 

3 milch cows, at $80 240. 00 

1 heifer, at $35 35. 00 

6 brood sows, at $25 150.00 

10 ewes, at $5 50. 00 

125 chickens, at 50 cents 62.50 

7 turkeys, at $2.50 17. 50 

1, 410. 00 

Implements : 

1 wagon, with box and hayrack 55. 00 

1 sulky plow.: 30.00 

1 disk harrow 22.50 

1 cultivator 12.00 

1 spike-tooth harrow S. 00 

1 mower 35.00 

1 hayrake 1 20.00 

1 buggy 50.00 

Miscellaneous small equipment and repairs ;_ 175. 00 

407. 50 

Accounts receivable (others owe us) : 

James Pelly, for seed wheatl 40. 00 

Thomas Ware, for heifer calf 37. 50 

77. 50 

Total assets 7, 312. 00 

Liabilities : 

Lumber company, for lumber 124. 30 

Open account at store 73. 20 

Note at bank, with accrued interest 1, 216. 00 

Due United States on building charge, $28 per acre, on 

60 acres 1, 680. 00 

3, 093. 50 

Present worth 4, 218. 50 

The farm considered in the statement has been taken at 60 acres of 
irrigable land in the section of the country adapted to general grain, 
forage, and live-stock production. The settler has come from the 



FARM ACCOUNTS. 113 

corn belt and for the first few years has been sticking close to what he 
knew to be good farming there. 

Of his total of GO acres he had during the past year 20 acres in 
alfalfa, 5 acres in corn. 2 acres in potatoes, 20 acres of wheat, 10 acres 
of oats, and 3 acres occupied by buildings, garden, feed lots, etc. 

He has been renting a grain binder and grain drill. 

He has made three annual payments on a $10 per acre water right, 
making a total of $12 per acre paid under the 10-year plan, leaving 
$28 per acre due the United States on the building charge. To sim- 
plify this matter he will be considered as having made his 1912, 1913, 
and 1911 payments in advance, and his next building charge payment 
will become due under the 20-year payment plan December 1, 1915. 

APRIL ACCOUNT. 

In the last section we had an inventory and financial statement 
showing the assets and liabilities and the present worth of a farmer 
on a 60-acre irrigated farm. For the year 1911 his land was in crop 
as follows: Wheat, 20 acres; oats, 10 acres; alfalfa, 20 acres; corn, 5 
acres; potatoes, 2 acres; buildings and lots, 3 acres. 

For 1915 he will put in but 7 acres of wheat, using last year's corn 
and potato ground. Five of the 20 acres of alfalfa will be used for 
two small pastures, on which will be run to the best advantage the 
cows, sheep, hogs, and at times the horses. Fifteen acres will be 
seeded to alfalfa, with a nurse crop of oats; this will be on part of last 
year's wheat ground, the 15 acres having been fall plowed. The re- 
maining 5 acres of last year's wheat ground will be spring plowed and 
put in beans. Last } T ear's 10-acre oat field will this year be divided 
into 5 acres of corn, 2 acres of potatoes, and 3 acres of sugar beets. 
All the manure available on the farm has been applied to this 10-acre 
tract. 

Beans being a new crop with this farmer, he will keep an accurate 
account with this crop to ascertain whether it is a money-maker. 

Taking advantage of the high prices offered for wheat and horses, 
the farmer has sold his two yearling colts and 80 bushels of wheat. 
He has also sold all the potatoes and alfalfa he could spare. 

The three milch cows have produced three calves — two heifers and 
one bull. Two of the brood mares have each produced a colt, one 
mare failing. The 10 ewes have lambed a total of 10 lambs, 1 ewe 
not producing and 1 ewe producing twins. The brood sows have 
produced a total of 12 pigs. 

Sufficient hay and grain has been kept to carry all the stock, with 
the help of the two small alfalfa pastures. 
5672S — IS 8 



114 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

Following is a record of the business transactions for the month of 
April : 

Cash received : 

Sold 2 yearling colts, at $87.50 each $175. 00 

Sold 8 tons alfalfa hay, at $6 48. 00 

Sold 5.000 pounds potatoes, at $1 per hundredweight 50. 00 

Sold SO bushels wheat, at $1.05 per bushel 84. 00 

Sold 50 dozen eggs, at 20 cents per dozen 10. 00 

Sold GO pounds butter fat, at 25 cents per pound 15. 00 

Received from James Felly for seed wheat sold last fall 40. 00 

Total cash received 422.00 

Cash on hand Apr. 1 120. 00 

$542. 00 

Cash paid out : 

Bought 100 pounds alfalfa seed, at 14 cents per pound 22. 40 

Bought 150 pounds seed navy beans, at 6 cents per pound- 9. 00 

Bought 30 pounds beet seed, at 10 cents per pound 3. 00 

Bought miscellaneous garden and flower seed 3. 20 

Bought 1 dozen apple trees 3. 60 

Paid bill at store to Apr. 1 73. 20 

Paid lumber company on account 65. 00 

Paid 3 months' interest, at 8 per cent per annum, on note 

for $1,200 at bank ; also $200 on the principal 224. 00 

Total cash paid out 403. 40 

Cash on hand May 1, 1915 138. 60 

Following is record of expense on 5-acre field of beans : 

Apr. 2, to seed navy beans, 150 pounds, at 6 cents $9. 00 

Apr. 5, disking ahead of plow. 1 day 5. 00 

Apr. 19, 20, 21. plowing and harrowing, 2* days, at $5 12. 50 

MAY ACCOUNT. 

The month of May found the farmer very busy in the fields, and as 
he had carefully arranged his business in April so as to enable him to 
devote his full time to his fields in May he has but few transactions 
to record for May. 

Following is a record of the business done during the month : 
Cash received: 

May 3. From Thos. Ware, for heifer calf sold to him in 

March $37. 50 

May 9. Sold 24 hens, poor layers, to poultry house 15. 60 

May 31. Check from creamery, 66 pounds butter fat, at 24 

cents 1 15. 64 

May 31. Check from Commission Co., 40 dozen eggs, at 20 

cents S. 00 

76.74 
Cash on hand May 1, 1915 13S. 60 

$215. 34 



FARM ACCOUNTS. 



115 



Cash paid out : 

May 3. For spraying materials $9.15 

May 6. Rental on potato planter . no 

May 12. Hired help 3 days, at $2 G. 00 

May 15. Paid April bill at store 17.20 

May ID. Rental on beet planter (used to plant beans also) 

8 acres at 10 cents .SO 

Total paid out $33. 65 

Cash on hand June 1, 1915 181. 69 





PUBLIC 


ROAD 


F 


3 ACRES 
ARM BUILDING! 




5 ACRES 
WHEAT 


FEED LOTS 
GARDEN 




SEEDED 
APRIL 14 




15 ACRES 

OATS 

SEEDED MAY 7 


2 ACRES 
WHEAT 
SEEDED 
APRIL 14 


2/ 2 ACRES 


2'/ 2 ACRES 




ALFALFA 


ALFALFA 




PASTURE 


PASTURE 








5 ACRES 






BEANS 






SEEDED MAY 19 






3 ACRES 






SUGAR BEETS 


15 ACRES 


ALFALFA 


SEEDED MAY 19 


2 ACRES 

POTATOES 

SEEDED MAY 6 






5 ACRES 

CORN 

PLANTED MAY 10 



PLAN OF FARM FOR 1915 



A good rain occurred May 1 and •_!, and as soon as the soil was dry 
enough all plowed land was harrowed to conserve the moisture. 

As indicated in the cash account, a number of hens were sold ; these 
were the hens which had become poor layers and they were culled from 
the flock and fattened to be sold. 



116 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

A beet planter was rented to put in the small field of beets and by 
a little arrangement was also used to plant the beans. 
The account on the bean field on May 31 is as follows : 

Apr. 2. To seed navy beans, 150 pounds, at 6 cents $0.00 

Apr. 5. Disking ahead of plow, 1 day 5.00 

Apr. 19-21. Plowing and harrowing, 21 days, at $5 12.50 

May 6. Harrowing, one-half day 2.50 

May 18-19. Harrowing and planting, three-fourths day _. 3. i75 

May 19. Rental on beet planter. 5 acres, at 10 cents . 50 

As lias been stated before in this series, it will be necessary for 
each farmer to arrange his accounts to fit his business. As soon as he 
is started in keeping record he will probably feel the need of special 
records or accounts, such as feeding records, breeding records, and 
cattle or hog records. These he will be able to arrange without trou- 
ble. It is particularly desirable to keep hog, cattle, sheep, and horse 
accounts, charging the stock with the feed and labor and crediting the 
stock with receipts from sales, increase, produce, services, etc. 

A very important item is to have a map for each year, showing the 
arrangement of the fields, the kinds of crops, dates of seeding, cul- 
tivation, harvest, yields, and the net returns on each crop. For the 
farm we have under consideration the accompanying map represents 
the farm and its arrangement for the year 1915. 

In addition to the bookkeeping records made by the farmer, a diary 
or written record of daily events will be found useful and profitable. 
This record may be written up daily, twice each week, or weekly, 
according to the time the farmer has to spend upon it. Such a diary 
might read as follows: 

May I. — Rain to-day, with considerable wind. Spent day sprouting potatoes 
and rearranging root cellar. 

May 2. — Rain continued, though lighter. Overhauled spray pump. Found 
three lambs apparently sick, gave entire flock new straw bedding, and put sick 
oues in barn and gave them warm feed. 

May 3.< — Clear weather. One of sick lambs died (hiring night. Went to town. 
purchased spraying materials; see signs of coddling moth on fruit trees. 

May '/. — Fine, warm weather. Other two sick lambs died during "fright. 
Went to Strong's and rented his potato planter. Took me three hours to put it 
in running order. All hands cut potatoes after supper. 

May 5. — Planted potatoes to-day; soil in fine condition. Alfalfa is coming 
on in good shape, though the portion of the field which I renovated last month 
appears to have a better stand. 

Etc. 

This subject of keeping farm records is not new. It has been 
practiced by leading farmers for many generations. Among the 
most interesting writings left by George Washington are his farm 
records, where we see he put down with great care the details of his 
farm work. 



FARM ACCOUNTS. 117 

JUNE ACCOUNT. 

The month of June finds the farmer on the rush. If, however, he 
has planned" his work well and arranged his crop rotation to advan- 
tage, the 30 days of the month will suffice to properly handle the work. 
^ On the farm we have under consideration the farmer has during the 
first six workdays irrigated his alfalfa field of 15 acres, one alfalfa 
pasture of 2^ acres, 7 acres of wheat, and 15 acres of oats. Also, 
during this week his boy has lightly harrowed the corn, potato, and 
beet fields to conserve the moisture and prevent weed growth. 

From the 9th to the 16th of the month, excepting Sunday, the 13th, 
the 15-acre alfalfa field has claimed attention, about 20 tons of hay 
being cut, cured, and put in the stack. During the three days of stack- 
ing it was necessary to have the help of one hired man. 

Immediately after the alfalfa was stacked the first careful culti- 
vation of the beans, corn, beets, and potatoes was done. This was 
followed by spraying the beans and potatoes with a Bordeaux mixture 
as a preventive measure against fungi and blight. The Bordeaux 
mixture was made of 4 pounds copper sulphate, 4 pounds fresh lime, 
and 45 to 50 gallons of water. 

On the 24th, 25th, and 26th the cultivated fields and the second 
alfalfa pasture were irrigated. The cultivator was started in the 
fields again on the 30th, the beans being cultivated on that date. 

The following is a record of the business transactions for the 
month : 

Cash on hand June 1, 1915 $181.69 

Cash received :• 

June 3. For 70 pounds of wool, at 24 cents .$16. SO 

30. Ice sold during mouth, 650 pounds, at 30 cents per 

hundredweight 1. 95 

30. Check from creamery, 67 pounds butter fat. at 24 

cents 16. 08 

30. Check from commission company. 37 dozen eggs, at 

22 cents 8.14 

224. 66 

Cash paid out : 

June 1. ( Operation and maintenance charges due Govern- 
ment, 60 acres, at $1 00. 00 

1. Paid May bill at store 19. 70 

10. Repairs to mower '. — 2.50 

16. Hired man, 3 days, haying 6. 00 

16. Paid lumber company on account 20. 00 

108. 20 

Cash on hand July 1, 1915 116.46 

The account with the bean field to date is as follows : 

Apr. 2. To seed navy beans, 150 pounds, at 6 cents $9. 00 

5. Disking ahead of plow, 1 day 5. 00 

19-21. Plowing and harrowing, 2* days, at $5 12. 50 



118 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

May 6. Harrowing, one-half day $2.50 

18-19. Rental on beet planter . 50 

June 18. Cultivating, 1 day 3.50 

25. Spraying, labor, and material * 5. 00 

26. Irrigating 2.00 

30. Cultivating 5. 50 

In fixing the rates allowed for labor, both man and horse, on the 
bean field, it is the idea to allow average wages; that is, wages that 
will pay the living expenses of men and horses and leave the worker's 
profit in excess. The fact that the farmer is in this account being 
well paid for his work should be taken into consideration when the 
profits or losses on the bean field are being determined. 

JULY ACCOUNT. 

July is a hard month for the farmer. He has been bending every 
energy in getting his crops well started and in this month he is be- 
ginning to harvest his crops. This hurry of harvest, irrigation, and 
cultivation is what tries the farmer's ability as a manager, and during 
July he will realize the advantages of having a crop plan or rotation 
which distributes the heavy work as much as is possible. The farm 
is not well managed unless the work is so arranged that plenty of 
lime is available to properly harvest and care for the harvested crops. 
There is no special advantage in growing crops unless you properly 
harvest and care for the crop. 

Our farmer has thought it wen to employ a hired man throughout 
the month and extra help for the house the last half of the month. 

On the 1st and 2d of the month the sugar beet, potato, and corn- 
fields received their second cultivation. From the 6th to 11th, inclu- 
sive, the second irrigation of the alfalfa field of 15 acres, one alfalfa 
pasture of 2| acres, 7 acres of wheat, and 15 acres of oats was done. 
The 12th to 14th, inclusive, was spent in cultivating; the 15th to 17th, 
inclusive, in irrigating; and the 20th, 21st, and 22d in cultivating 
again. The remainder of the month was taken up in putting in the 
stack the second cutting of alfalfa. 

The close of the month finds the farmer with all crops in good shape 
to permit full attention to the harvest of the grain, which is ripening 
and which will be ready for cutting early in August. 

Business transactions during the month were as follows : 

Cash on hand July 1, 1915 $116. 46 

Cash received : 

Ice sold. 1,200 pounds, at 30 cents per hundredweight 3. 60 

One boar-pig to Sam Wright 18.00 

Butter fat sold creamery, 60 pounds, at 24 cents 14. 40 

Eggs sold commission company, 32 dozen, at 23 cents 7. 36 

$159. 82 



FARM ACCOUNTS. 119 

Cash paid out : 

June, 1915, bill at store $29.25 

Paid lumber company to close account 39.30 

Cash for personal use of family 25.00 

Hired man during month 37.50 

Hired girl, two weeks 7.50 

$138. 55 

Cash on hand Aug. 1, 1915 21.27 

The account with the bean field stands at the close of July, 1915, as 
follows : 

Charges brought forward July 1. 1915 $43. 50 

July 12, cultivating 3. 50 

July 15, irrigating 2.00 

July 20, cultivating 3.50 

July 22, hand pulling weeds 2. 00 

Total cost to date, July 31, 1915 54.50 

AUGUST ACCOUNT. 

Heavy rains early in August have interfered with the farm work 
and delayed the full ripening of the small grain. During the first 
week of the month no field work could be done and advantage was 
taken of this slack time to make stack bottoms on which to stack the 
wheat and oats as early as possible after cutting. 

During the second week of the month the beans, sugar beets, po- 
tatoes, and corn were given a shallow cultivation to break up the 
soil crust and prevent escape of the moisture. 

After cutting the second crop of alfalfa late in July it was decided 
to give the 38 pigs saved from the original 42 from 6 sows the run 
of the 15-acre alfalfa field. While this would reduce the third cut- 
ting somewhat, the best possible use would be made of the alfalfa 
consumed. It was arranged to give these pigs a small portion of 
ground grain daily. 

On the 18th the two fields, 7 acres, of wheat were cut and shocked. 
The binding of this wheat was hired done, as our farmer has no 
binder of his own. This enabled our farmer to immediately follow 
the binder Math a double-disk harrow set to run shallow. It is ex- 
pected to fall plow this land, and this disking behind the binder 
served the double purpose of heading off weed growth and holding 
the soil in good shape for plowing until after the wheat is stacked. 

On the 26th the oat crop was cut. The binder w T as not followed by 
the disk harrow, as it is planned to run the sheep in this field to 
gather up the " down " oats and utilize the feed available along 
fences and ditch banks. 

The help hired during the month consisted of a man If days in 
grain shocking and a girl throughout the month in the house. 



120 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

The business transactions for the month are as follows: 

Cash on hand Aug. 1, 1915 $21.27 

Cash received during August: 

Ice sold during the month, 850 pounds, at 30 cents 2. 55 

Aug. 31, butter fat, 52 pounds, at 25 cents 13. 00 

Aug. 31, eggs to commission company, 26 dozen, at 25 cents- 6. 50 
Aug. 31, young chickens sold, 2 dozen, at 30 cents each 7. 20 

$50.52 

Cash paid out during August: 

Hired man. If days, shocking grain, at $2 a day 3.50 

For binding wheat and oats, 22 acres, at $1 22. 00 

Hired girl for month 15. 00 

40. 50 

Cash on hand Sept. 1, 1915 10. 02 

Our farmer has not this month been able to pay his monthly store 
bill and has arranged for the merchant to carry the account until 
after harvest. 

The account with the bean field at the close of the month stands 
a s f olk)ws : 

Charges brought forward Aug. 1, 1915 $54. 50 

Aug. 13, cultivating, one day 3. 50 

Total cost to Aug. 31. 1915 58. 00 

SEPTEMBER ACCOUNT. 

September has been a month of harvest with our farmer. The 
first six working days were taken up in handling the third cutting of 
alfalfa, which completed the work on that crop for the year. During 
the second week the beans were cut and bunched and work of cutting 
and shocking the corn started. During the third week the work in 
the cornfield was completed and the 2 acres of potatoes were dug and 
sorted. Three hundred and twenty bushels of marketable potatoes 
were secured from the 2 acres, and due to the uncertainty of getting 
a good price for stored potatoes one-half the crop was sold as soon 
as sorted for $1 per hundred pounds. The fourth week was spent 
in helping neighbors with thrashing, and on the 28th the home 
thrashing, including the beans, was done. The 7 acres of wheat 
averaged 37 bushels per acre and the 15 acres of oats 64 bushels per 
acre. The beans yielded 20 bushels per acre. These were hauled to 
a neighbor^ and put through a fanning mill, and from there 90 
bushels were taken to market at $2.40 per bushel. The wheat and 
oats were stored on the farm. The bean and oat straw was carefully 
stacked for use as feed and bedding for the live stock. 

The farmer made the following entries in his account book for 
September : 



FARM ACCOUNTS. 121 

Cash on hand Sept. 1, 1915 $10.02 

( "ash received during September : 

1 bull calf to Sidney Parker 50. 00 

2 turkey gobblers to Valley Poultry Farm 8. 00 

1 boar pig to James Black 20. 00 

100 bushels potatoes, at $1 per hundredweight 96. 00 

90 bushels beans, at $2.40 per bushel 216. 00 

50 pounds butter fat, at 26 cents ,_ 13. 00 

28 dozen eggs, at 27 cents 7. 56 

$420. 58 

Cash paid out during September, 1915 : 

Family for personal expenses " 75. 00 

Store bill for July and August 70. 70 

Thrashing 100 bushels beans, at 10 cents 10. 00 

Thrashing 259 bushels wheat, at 5 cents 12.95 

Thrashing 960 bushels oats, at 3 cents 28. SO 

Hired help in house 20. 00 

Rental of potato digger 1. 00 

Hired help in fields, 6 days' haying, 1 man, at $2.50 15. 00 

233. 45 

Cash on hand Oct. 1 187. 13 

The account with the bean field has been closed with this month 
and stands as follows: 

Charges brought forward to Sept. 1 $58.00 

Pulling and bunching 10.00 

Thrashing 10. 00 

Item to cover miscellaneous labor and attention throughout 

season 10. 00 

Cleaning 5. 00 

Total charges 93. 00 

Credit by sale 90 bushels, at $2.40 216. 00 

Credit by 10 bushels stored on farm, at $2.40 24. 00 

$240. 00 

Deduct total charges against crop 93.00 

Profit 147.00 

The farmer has allowed himself full wages for all labor and full 
cost for all materials and supplies used on this crop, so the profit 
shown for the 5 acres is the return he receives for the use of his land 
and his supervision of the work. 

OCTOBER ACCOUNT. 

October is a between-seasons period for most farmers. During 
this season the good farmer looks to the repair of the farm buildings, 
the careful housing of all implements needed no more until next sea- 
son, and the provision of additional quarters and shelter for the in* 
crease in live stock. 

Our farmer during the first of the month pulled the 3 acres of 
beets, getting a total yield of 40 tons. About 5 tons of these were 



122 HINTS FEOM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

put in a pit to be fed during the winter to the live stock and poultry. 
The remaining 35 tons were sold to the sugar factory for a credit of 
$192.50. 

To provide for the fall litters of pigs — expected late in October or 
early in November — a comfortable but inexpensive hog house was 
built during the month. 

Of the 37 spring pigs on hand 4 are being kept for use as brood 
sows and the remaining 33 have been turned into the beet fields to 
utilize the tops for roughage. They will be fed corn from the field 
adjoining to make out the fattening ration. 

Of the 10 lambs secured in the spring 9 have been saved, ; and these 
the farmer has sold this month ; he does not plan to keep more than 
about 10 sheep on his farm. The lambs weighed 80 pounds each and 
sold for 7 cents per pound. 

With the idea of increasing his dairy work the next season he has 
bought two 2-year-old heifers at $30 each. 

Our farmer made the following entries in his accounts for October, 
1915: 

Cash on hand Oct. 1, 1915 $187. 13 

Cash received during October : 

6 dozen eggs, at 35 cents 2. 10 

21 pounds butterfat, at 26 cents 5. 46 

9 lambs, 720 pounds, at 7 cents 50. 40 

35 tons sugar beets, at $5.50 192. 50 

$437. 59 

Expenditures during October : 

Family for personal expenses 35. 00 

Store bill for September. 1915 24. 00 

Lumber and material for hog house 55. 00 

Hired help in house 15. 00 

Two 2-year-old heifers, at $S0 160. 00 

Hired help in fields, 3 days, at $2 6. 00 

295. 00 



Balance on hand Oct. 31 142. 59 

NOVEMBER ACCOUNT. 

The field work is over for the season, and the farmer is devoting 
his entire time to the care of his live stock, farm equipment, and 
improvements. 

On the average farm it is not feasible to distribute the season's 
work evenly over the 12 months. A carefully planned crop rotation 
and proper balance of live stock will do much, however, to relieve 
the pressure from a few months during the summer. 
* The frequently repeated maxim of a certain successful farmer of 
the " old school " is " It is a poor farmer who does not have plenty of 
work to do on his own farm every day in the year." The days of 



FARM ACCOUNTS. 123 

the late fall may be well taken up in properly caring for the orchard, 
the small fruits, the shrubs, and flowers. Fruits and flowers mean 
much to home life on the farm. The good farmer sees that all these 
are properly provided by mulches and other protection to withstand 
the hard winter. On the condition in which the trees and shrubs 
start out in the spring depend the yields in fruits and flowers. 

The late fall is also a good time for a thorough cleaning and disin- 
fecting of poultry and hog houses, horse stables, and cow barns. It 
is folly to expect poultry and live stock to thrive in unclean and 
vermin-infested quarters. You need not expect reasonable returns 
for feed consumed unless you provide clean and comfortable quarters. 

The cold weather is now driving the rats and mice from the fields 
into the farm buildings. Be sure your crops are stored safe from 
the depredations of these pests. If they are allowed free access to 
bins and cribs, they will eat much and waste more. 

The business ability of the farmer is tested more by how he utilizes 
his crops than it is by how he produces them. Our farmer has been 
gradually increasing the ration of the hogs he is fattening with the 
view of marketing them in December. 

Early in November the 6 brood sows produced 39 pigs, of which 
36 were alive at the close of the mouth. Considerable care and atten- 
tion is being given these sows and pigs, to insure them being in good, 
thrifty condition before the winter becomes severe. 

The wife started the season with a total of 7 old turkeys, and, due 
to much wet weather, has had poor success in raising the young. 
One young gobbler was sold earlier in the season, and there remains 
a surplus of 7, which were sold during November for holiday trade. 

Very little has been sold from the farm during the month. The 
egg production has dropped to about what is required in the home. 
Due to very favorable weather, the milk production has held up 
strong. 

The business transactions for the month are as follows: 

Cash on hand Nov. 1, 1915 $142.59 

Cash received during- November: 

7 turkeys. 85 pounds, at 20 cents 17. 00 

27 pounds butter fat, at 26 cents 7. 02 

100 pounds onions 1.40 

— $16S. 01 

Expenditures during November : 

Family for personal expenses 25. 00 

Store bill for October 19. 00 

Doctor's bill 8. 00 

52. 00 



Cash on hand Dec. 1, 1915 116. 01 



124 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

DECEMBER ACCOUNT AND INVENTORY. 

For the purpose of starting new work on farm accounting the 
series of short articles on the theoretical farm which have been fur- 
nished in the preceding pages will be concluded in this section. The 
work has been carried through the busy portion of the year, and 
accounts for the few inactive months would not be important. For 
the purpose of comparison the inventory given April 1 is here re- 
peated and an inventory of date January 1, 1916, is given. 

The business transactions for the month of December are as follows : 

Cash on hand Dec. 1, 1915 $116.01 

Cash received during December : 

20 pounds butter fat, at 27 cents 5. 40 

9 dozen eggs, at 40 cents 3. 60 

30 hogs, 200 pounds each, at 6 cents per pound 300.00 

$485.01 

Expenditures during December: 

Family personal expenses 30.00 

Store bill for November 23. 40 

Doctor bill 7". 50 

Interest to Jan. 1 on $1,100 note 58. 65 

Paid on $1,100 note 100.00 

Building charge to Government 33. 60 

Taxes 54. 00 

Fire insurance 25. 00 

Life insurance 74. 00 

400.15 

Cash on hand Jan. 1, 1910 78. 86 

Three of the 33 hogs which were being fattened were killed for 
family use. The first of the new year finds the farmer with but little 
cash in hand. He is, however, free from debt with the exception of 
his December store bill and the note of $1,000 at the bank. He has 
plenty of stock feed on hand and a good quantity of supplies for 
family uses. He will have a small income during the remainder of 
the winter from dairy and poultry products. He has 35 pigs which 
he will probably market the following June or July to obtain funds 
for the next season's work. He has prepared the way for more 
profitable farming the next season. Instead of 6 brood sows he now 
lias 10. and he will have 6 milch cows as against 3 for the past year. 

The accompanying statement gives an inventory for the two dates 
named. 



FARM ACCOUNTS. 
ASSETS. 



125 



Items. Apr. 1, 1915. 


Value. 


Jan. 1, 1916. 


Value. 






$4,800.00 
120. 00 
100. 00 




$5,000.00 
7S. 86 








Wheat 


100 bushels, at SI 


220 bushels, at 80 cents . . 

10 bushels, at $2. 40 

55 tons, at $5 


17<i. ill) 




24.00 


V Haifa 


18 tons, at $5 


90.00 
30. 00 
57.00 


275. 00 




100 bushels, at 30 cents . . 
95 bushels, at 60 cents. . . 


140 bushels, at 30 cents . . 


42.00 










40. 00 


Oats 


300 bushels, at 40 cents . . 


120. 00 


900 bushels, at 35 cents . . 


315. 00 




25. 00 






100. 00 
555. 00 
150. 00 
150. 00 
240. 00 




180.00 






3, at $185 


525. 00 


Colts 


2, at $75 


2, at $70 


140. 00 




1 


1 


135. 00 




3, at $80 


3, at $75 


225. 00 






35.00 




55. 00 


Do. 




2. atSKO 


160. 00 




6, at $25 


150. 00 


10, at $25 


250. 00 






35, at $2.5!) 


ST. 50 




10, at $5. 


50. 00 




50. 00 




125, at 50 cents 


62. 50 
17.50 

55. 00 


150, at 50 cents 


75.00 




7, at $2. 50 


7, at $2.50 


17.50 




1 


1 


45. 00 


Plow 


1 30.00 

1 22.50 

1 12. 00 

1 S.OO 

1 35.00 

1 1 20.00 

1 . 50.00 


1 


25.00 


Disk 


1 


11.8. 50 




1 


0.00 




1 


27.00 




1 


7.50 




1 


16.00 




1 


40.00 






175. 00 


Miscel laneous equipment 


150.00 






77.50 














7,312.00 


8,214. S6 











LIABILITIES. 



Note at bank with accrued interest 

Due United States on building charge. 

Due lumber company 

Account at store 



Total liabilities. 



Total assets. . .. 
Total liabilities. 



Net worth . 
Apr. 1, 1915 



Net gain . 



Apr. 1, 1915. 



$1,216.00 

1,680.00 

124. 30 

73.20 



3,093.50 



7,312.00 

3,093.50 



4,218.50 



Jan. 1,1916. 



$1,000.00 

1,646.40 



19.00 



2,665.40 



8,214.86 

2, 665. 40 



5. 549. 46 
4,218.50 



1,330.96 



This inventory would show a net gain from April 1, 1915, to 
January 1, 1916, of about $1,300. From this net gain there should 
be deducted the amount represented by the feed which would be 
consumed by nonproductive animals and the family expenses up to 
April 1, 1916. The result would be a net gain of from $600 to $700 
for the year's work. This looks small, of course, to the " back to the 
landers," but it is fully up to the average. It must be considered that 
the farmer has had a living for himself and family, has been able to 



126 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

hire much work done, and has put himself in shape for better returns 
the following years. 

CASH ACCOUNTS. 

It is probable that with the farmer the most important business 
record is the account of receipts and expenditures, ordinarily called 
the cash account. 

If the farmer goes no further in bookkeeping than keeping an 
accurate cash account he will have a basis for determining the costs of 
operating and returns from the various departments of his farm 
work. Many attempt to record all cash transactions on the stubs of 
check books, but this make an unsatisfactory record. Some par- 
ticularly progressive banks have provided check books with large 
stubs ruled to permit the farmer to itemize deposits and expenditures 
in detail. Such an arrangement is better than the ordinary check 
stub record, but it is inconvenient for the reason that in order to 
determine what has been deposited for any special account or what 
has been checked out for any particular account it is necessary to 
examine the stubs of many checks. The old-fashioned single or 
double column cashbook is likewise inconvenient, for unless all the 
entries be posted to the ledger accounts it is considerable trouble to 
determine what has been spent or collected for any special items. 

Probably the most convenient form of cash account, and one that 
is at the same time simple and labor saving, is that provided by what 
is called the multiple-column cashbook, shown in the accompanying 
illustration. 

Multiple-column cashbooks may be purchased with few or many 
columns, and the farmer may choose between them according to the 
number of departments of his farm work on which he desires to keep 
records. Usually one farmer has but four or five principal depart- 
ments of his business on which he cares to keep posted, and all other 
receipts or expenditures may be carried to a " sundries " or " miscel- 
laneous" column. The advantage of this form of cash account is, 
as indicated, that the amount taken in from any special department 
or the amount paid out for any particular department may be de- 
termined quickly at any time. If a ledger is also kept this form of 
cashbook saves much posting from the cashbook to the ledger, as, 
for example, the total for one month of the " dairy " column may be 
posted to the " dairy " account in the ledger instead of posting all the 
items in that column. 



FARM ACCOUNTS. 



127 



CASH ACCOUNT. 
Receipts. 



Date. 


Received from — 


Dairy. 


Hogs. 


Wheat. 


Oats. 


Poultry. 


Total. 


1916. 




$8.10 








$1.40 


$9.50 


8 


Jameselevator, 100 bushels wheat and 300 




$100 


$150 


250.00 


20 




9.00 






9.00 


27 




$425 








425.00 


















17.10 


125 


100 


150 


1.40 


693. 50 









Expenditures. 



Dale. 


Check 
No. 


Paid to— 


Dairy. 


Hogs. 


Wheat. 


Poultry. 


Miscel- 
laneous. 


Total. 


1916. 
Jan. 3 


21 
22 

23 

24 
25 




$8.00 
1.50 
2.20 


$6 
4 




$3 


$13.00 

17.00 

1.50 
10.00 


$30. 00 


8 


Owens Merchandise Co., Decem- 


22.50 


10 


Ames Hardware Co., December 
bill.. . 






3.70 


14 










10.00 


IS 








$6 




6.00 




Total for January, 1916 














11.70 


10 


6 


3 


41.50 


72.20 



PERSONAL ACCOUNTS. 



Many neighborhood grudges grow out of little matters connected 
with farming operations, and not a few are traceable directly to such 
items as "The day's work at thrashing that Jones owes me for,'.' 
"the bushel of wheat I charged to Smith and am still charging," 
and " the rent Black owes for use of my drill." 

If every farmer knew that every farmer kept books, there would 
be fewer misunderstandings about these little business matters. In 
the old days it was common — so we are told — for neighbors to help 
each other without keeping a record of or expecting pay for extra 
days' work on thrashing, haymaking, or such. Not so these days. 
Every farmer is entitled to and should receive returns for every 
hour he works for his neighbor and for each accommodation in the 
way of materials or use of equipment. 

If you keep a ledger, open up an account with each neighbor with 
whom you do business. Charge him with what he gets from you and 
credit him with what you get from him, and show him this record 
when you settle up with him. If you do not keep a regular ledger, 
you should have some kind of a book in which to keep personal ac- 
counts. A written record of transactions made at the time of the 
transactions will save disputes later on. 

If you wish to stay on good terms with your neighbors, keep books 
with them. It will probably lead them to keeping books with you, 
which is a condition to be desired. 



128 



HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 
LABOR ACCOUNT. 



If a farmer attempts to find a direct cash return for each minute of 
labor put in on the farm, he will have to look long and with a mag- 
nifying glass. For example, if you charge wages for every minute of 
time you put in oaring for the one or two milch cows you keep, you 
will probably decide you are paying well for each quart of milk your 
family uses. The time put in by farmers in doing "chores" corre- 
sponds to the time put in by city men playing golf and tennis, mowing 
the lawn, and doing various stunts to prevent large waist lines and 
loss of appetite. The farmer has the advantage in that he is doing 
something worth while. 

On a one, two, or three man farm the keeping of a detailed and 
strictly accurate labor account would probably be too complicated to 
be worth while. Each man's time would be divided each day among 
several kinds of work, and to make accurate charges to all accounts 
would require a stop watch. The best results from labor accounts are 
obtained by keeping records of the time spent by both men and horses 
on various kinds of crops or on dairy work or sheep raising in order 
that the returns and labor may be compared to enable the farmer to 
follow the line yielding the best returns for time and investment. For 
this purpose the accompanying forms will be found convenient. 

HOURS OF MAN LABOR, MONTH OF 



Day. 


Dairy. 


Beets. 


Oats. 


Wheat. 






























. 




















1 


































V 1 ip 












I 




! 


1 


HOURS OF HORSE LABOR, MONTH OF 




Day. 


Dairy. 


Beets. 


Oats. 


Wheat. 
































































i 








i 1 i 1 ! 


1 i 



HOG ACCOUNTS. 



The farmer who makes hog raising an important part of his farm- 
ing operations should keep books with his hogs. He should know 
just what profit or loss there is in his hog business, what constitutes 



FARM ACCOUNTS. 



129 



the costs, and where the main profits are realized. This is necessary 
to enable the farmer to change faulty methods of care and feeding. 

Of course where the hogs are fed out of the same feed bin that 
holds the supply for the other stock on the farm it is difficult to know 
just what is fed to the hogs, and the work of keeping a record of the 
amount given at each feeding is onerous. Where the hog feed is 
we'ghed into a special bin this work is made easier. In case self- 
feeders are used, as is now being advocated by some of our best hog 
raisers, it is easy to make a record of the weight and date of each 
filling of the feeders. 

The same is true of pasture. If the farmer insists on running the 
hogs, calves, and some horses in the same field he can at best make 
only a reasonable guess at what portion of the pasture should be 
charged to the hogs. If carefully measured small pastures are set 
aside for the exclusive use- of the hogs, it is easy to determine the 
costs of pasturing the hogs. 

The accompanying outline of a hog account may be changed to 
meet the requirements of varying conditions. 



HOG ACCOUNTS. 

Debits, 
inventory at beginning of year. 



Date. 


Kind. 


Number or weight. 


Price. 


Total. 












::::::::::::::::::::i::::::::::::::::::: 

















Total inventory 








FEED (INCLUDING PASTURE). 


Date. 


Kind. 


Amount. 


Price. Total. 




■ 














- 
















Total feeds and 










LABOR, CARE, AND MISCELLANEOUS. 


Date. 


Kind. 


Amount. 


Price. 


Total. 




















m 



















Total care, labor, 
andmiscellane- 

























56728°— 18- 



130 



HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

Credits, 
sales. 



Date. 


Kind. 


Number or weight. 


Price. 


Total. 



























































INVENTORY AT CLOSE OF YEAR. 






































































































Space in accordance with the volume of the business to be handled 
by the farmer may be provided under each of these several headings. 

Where the farmer makes a business of raising pure-bred hogs and 
selling them for breeding purposes he may desire to keep books with 
this feature of the business, and in this case it will be necessary to 
amplify his accounts to meet the requirements. As a starter, how- 
ever, it is thought that if the farmer will keep strict account of his 
hog business as a whole an important step will be taken. 

DAIRY ACCOUNTS. 

It seems to have become the custom to refer to unprofitable dairy 
cows as " boarders." Now comes a farmer who insists that these 
unprofitable cows be called " relatives " instead of " boarders " on the 
ground that boarders usually pay for their board and relatives never 
do. The object, then, of keeping dairy accounts is to determine 
whether you are supporting a bunch of relatives. 

On the average farm where just enough cows are kept to supply 
the family with milk the farmer will hardly care to keep special 
dairy accounts, but will be content to judge his cows by the fullness 
of the milk pail and the value of the calves produced. 

Where a considerable portion of the farm work and the bulk of the 
farm crops are applied to dairying, it is well to know what returns 
are being secured from each cow and from the dairy work as a whole. 

The method of keeping individual cow records by weighing the 
milk at each milking and testing the same regularly for butter-fat 
content is well understood, and these records are necessary to deter- 
mine what each cow is doing in the way of production. 



FARM ACCOUNTS. 



131 



Just as important as a knowledge of what you get from the cow is 
a knowledge of what you feed the cow and the value of this feed. 
Some dairymen go so far as to feed each cow an individual ration, 
different from that fed any other cow and based on a know ledge of 
just what food each cow needs to enable her to produce the most 
milk. As a rule, however, cows are fed the same ration, though it is 
varied in amount to correspond with the size of the cow and the 
amount of milk produced. This makes the cost keeping more simple, 
and satisfactory accounts may be made. 

If possible, feed bins to hold feed exclusively for the milch cows 
should be provided. Feed may be weighed or measured into these 
bins in considerable quantities, which simplifies the determination of 
the amount of grain and other feeds utilized by the cows. 

The same is true of the pasture. If pasture for the exclusive use 
of the dairy herd is available, it is easy to determine the charge against 
the dairy for pasturage. Exclusive pastures for cows, on irrigated 
farms, are not considered most economical, however, and in the inter- 
ests of the best use of all the feed available it is good business to use 
the pasture to the best advantage, even though the accounts are a 
little complicated. 

It is necessary to charge the dairy account with depreciation on 
the mature cows. This is determined by the estimated useful life of 
the cow and the value of the cow for beef after her dairy work is 
done. For example, if a cow is worth $100 as a 2-year-old and her 
useful life is estimated at six years, with her value for beef placed 
at $50 at the end of six years, it is necessary to charge off each year 
one-sixth of the $50 depreciation. It is also necessary to credit the 
dairy account with the calves produced and the manure made. 

The accompanying rough outline is suggested for dairy accounts. 
This may be changed in details to suit the conditions on each farm. 



DAIRY ACCOUNT. 
DEBITS. 
Inventory at Beginning of Annual or Semiannual Period. 



Date. 


Kind. 


Number. 


Value each. 


Total. 


























(Provide e 


pace in accordance with the various ages 


, kinds, and breeds c 


)f cows.) 


Total 


























1 







132 



HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER, 



EXPENSES. 



Date. 


Grain 

and mill 
feeds. 


Hay and 
forage. 


Pasture. 


Silage. 


Labor. 


Insurance 
and mis- 
cella- 
neous. 


Total. 













































Total . 



( Provide space sufficient for annual or semiannual records.) 



Total expenses. . . . 
Total debits. 



CREDITS. 

RECEIPTS. 



Date. 


Cream. 


Butter. 


Skim 
milk. 


Manure. 


Calves. 


Miscella- 
neous. 


Total. 


January. 

































( Provide sufficient spa^e for semiannual or annual records.) 



Total. 



Total receipts. 



Inventory at Close ok Annual or Semiannual Period. 



Pate 


Kind. 


Number. 


Value each. 


Total. 







































(Provide space in accordance with the various ai;es. kinds and breeds of cows. • 



Total. 



Total inventory . . . 
Total credits. 



SUMMARY. 



Total credits . 
Total debits. 
Net gain 



FAEM ACCOUNTS. 133 

HORSE ACCOUNTS. 

If we are to believe the statements made by the manufacturers of 
the 57 varieties of farm tractors, it is an utter waste of time to keep 
horse accounts. The tractor people are busy on that and they have 
figured out to a cent just how much the farmer loses on each horse 
he owns. However, we may as well assume that the statements made 
by tractor salesmen are for the purpose of selling tractors and are 
not to be considered as especially favoring horses, which so many 
of us find necessary on our farms. 

The question of whether to use tractors or horses for farm power 
has had consideration on the part of many practical men, and it is 
the generally accepted opinion that the tractor is not a necessity on 
farms up to 160 acres in area, whereas the horse is a necessity, so 
we may as well do a little cost keeping with the horse in order that 
it may receive due credit for what it does. 

Horses should be charged with all work performed for them, their 
keep, losses, and depreciation; they should be credited with all work 
performed by them, their increase, and the manure produced by them. 

Space will not be taken here to outline the forms on which to keep 
these accounts, as the forms would follow closely those used for cat- 
lie, hog, or sheep accounts, and would be varied to suit the opera- 
tions on different farms. 

To start with, it will be found that brood mares properly handled 
will show better returns than geldings and mules. There are many 
cases where mares have been bought at 2 or 3 years of age, used to 
produce several times their value in colts, pay their way by work, and 
sell at 6 to 10 years of age at nearly the original cost. Increases in 
the value of horses have something to do with cases such as these, 
of course, but it is a demonstration of the small depreciation that 
takes place in good mares and the returns that may be secured under 
farming conditions as they exist. 

One of the principal benefits of keeping horse accounts is that it 
is possible to determine at just what seasons of the year the horses 
are used to best advantage and when the horses are full} 7 idle. A 
knowledge of the exact work performed by the horses is a help in 
rearranging the work on the farm to provide continuous employment 
for the horses and man labor. 

The horse deserves more credit than it receives at the hands of 
farm tractor salesmen and from publishers of farm papers who are 
nnxious to secure the advertisements paid for by tractor manu- 
facturers. Don't go back on the horse; you will need its help for 
years to come. 



134 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

HAY ACCOUNT. 

The old saying that " figures do not lie " is now generally under- 
stood to imply that figures in themselves are not capable of falsity, 
but that they will readily lend themselves to manipulation. This is 
particularly pertinent in connection with the " studies," " investiga- 
tions," " experiments," and " tests " of the comparative value of vari- 
ous live-stock feeds. 

For example, Mr. "A," who is a booster of corn, will show that by 
feeding alfalfa and corn to hogs and allowing the market price for 
the alfalfa, corn is worth $2 per bushel as hog feed. Mr. " B," who 
is a booster of alfalfa, will take the same feeding test and by allowing 
the market price for the corn will prove that alfalfa is worth $20 per 
ton as hog feed. If Mr. " C " would come along as a booster of water 
as a pork producer he could show, by allowing the market price for 
both the alfalfa and corn, that water is worth $2 per barrel. Mr. 
" D " could allow the market price for alfalfa, corn, and water and 
prove that 10 square feet of bare ground is worth a fabulous price as 
a hog resort. By carrying this line of reason, or unreason, a little 
further, you can cash in on the fresh country air, the scenery, and 
the country boy's whistle. 

Reading reports of such " demonstrations," " comparative tests," 
" food-value investigations," etc., is an interesting pastime, but with 
the farmer, who has to strike a balance between returns from all his 
crops, live stock, etc., and his bank account at the end of the year, 
such juggling of figures is not attractive. 

The most successful feeders are those who make the greatest use 
of the cheapest feeds, food value considered. It is folly to buy high- 
priced grains and feed them heavily when the same results may be 
obtained by feeding a great deal of cheap alfalfa with a little grain. 

On our irrigation projects alfalfa hay is the major item of our live- 
stock rations. We ought to know what the alfalfa we feed costs us, 
and the only way we can determine this is to keep a hay account. 
When you go to buy feed from a neighbor or a merchant, one of the 
important considerations is the price and whether you can afford to 
feed it to your live stock. You should be just as careful to know 
what you are paying for the hay you produce on your own land. If 
you think your alfalfa has cost you only $3 per ton, you will probably 
be a little careless about its use. If you know by actual accounting 
that it has cost you $5 per ton, you will use it to better advantage. 

Keeping a hay account is a simple matter. If you let alfalfa stand 
for four years, you should divide the cost of seeding by four and 
charge one-fourth to each year's crop. Then there is a reasonable 
rental for the land, labor, renovating, irrigating, and putting up the 



FARM ACCOUNTS. 135 

hay, as well as a due proportion of the general farm expense, all to 
be charged to the hay account. Without much trouble you can tell 
approximately how much each ton of hay in the stack has cost you. 

GRAIN ACCOUNTS. 

Of the ordinary field crops it is probably most important to keep 
accounts with the grain crops. Many farmers raise wheat and oats 
year after year for returns that do not pay good wages for the labor 
involved, to say nothing of the wear and tear on horses, machinery, 
land, and the farmer. 

For example, if a yield of 35 bushels of oats per acre is secured, 
which is about the five-year average in this country, and the crop is 
sold for 35 cents per bushel, which is also about the five-year average 
in this country, the gross returns per acre would be $12.25. If we 
allow $5 per acre for use of the land, $1 per acre for seed, $2 for 
binding and thrashing, $1 for delivery of irrigation water, we would 
have left the munificent sum of about $3 to pay for the farmer's 
labor, wear, and tear on horses and machinery, fertilizer used or fer- 
tility taken from the soil, and to contribute to the installments on 
the grand piano and the automobile. 

The average small-grain crop on the average American farm is not 
a paying proposition, due mostly to faulty crop rotation and insuffi- 
cient fertilization, coupled with poor cultivation. By keeping a rea- 
sonably accurate account of all the expenses entering into a small- 
grain crop the farmer will be brought to realize that he must change 
his methods if he is to be justified in continuing in raising small 
grains. 

You don't need any special ruled form to keep a grain account. 
Just put down on one side of the page your labor charges and other 
expenses in producing the crop and on the other side your returns 
from the crop, and you can easily tell whether you are raising wheat, 
oats, and other small grains at a profit. 

FARM ACCOUNTS, HESPER FARM. 

In meeting with farmers on the several projects and in talking to 
farmers' meetings I have often referred to the operation of my own 
farm in order that I might give first-hand information and relate 
facts rather than theory. I am often asked for a statement of how 
my farm is operated and am submitting a brief statement of the 
Hesper farm business. 



136 HINTS FROM A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

HESPER FARM STATEMENT, PERIOD APR. i, igis, TO MAR. 31, 1916. 



Gross re- 
turns. 



Ranch account $10, 978. 97 

Sugar-beet account 16, 573. 45 

Sheep account - 32, 679. 66 



Total 60, 232. 08 

General expense: 

Taxes 

Miscellaneous 

Water assessments 



Net gain 

Investment: 

640 acres improved land 

"Work stock and equipment . 



Net gain on total investment (per cent) . 



Costs. 



$6, 929. 32 
11.307.39 
27,954.54 



838.42 
301,59 
320. 00 



Gross 
gains. 



$4,049.65 
5, 266. 06 
4, 725. 12 



14, 040. S3 



97,500.00 
12, 833. 00 



1,460.01 
12,580.52 



The farm was divided as follows 



Sugar beets. 
Grain 



Acres. 
._ 178 
_ 100 



Alfalfa 300 

Pasture 15 

Beans, peas, corn -0 

Roads and ditches 20 

Garden and orchard and trees 7 

Buildings and grounds 5 

Total 040 

Only two special accounts, the sheep account and the sugar-beet 
account, were kept. These two departments are especially featured 
and it is important to know what they return. 

The general ranch account receives credit for all feed, hay, grain, 
etc. (excepting sugar-beet tops), used by the sheep and for all sales 
of hogs, poultry, beans, peas — in short, all items not credited to the 
sugar beet or sheep accounts — the ranch is charged with all expenses 
not charged to the sugar beet and sheep accounts, excepting taxes, 
water assessments, and sundries which are charged to all accounts. 

The sugar-beet account is charged with its proportion of labor and 
all proper charges including manure. 

The sheep account is charged with the purchase price of the sheep, 
interest on this purchase price, hay from the ranch at $5 per ton, 
pasture, sugar-beet tops at $5 per acre. Charging all feeds except- 
ing alfalfa hay in at cost, the sheep return $15 per ton for the hay 
used. They also pay $1,400 for the pasture secured from the fields 
after all crops are harvested. 

In determining the investment involved the land is valued at about 
$150 per acre which is the maximum for this section. Work stock 
and equipment are put in at actual value. It requires 32 head of 
work horses to handle the work. No tractors are used. 



FARM ACCOUNTS. 137 

About one-half the farm is kept in alfalfa, which for 1915 yielded 
about 1,200 tons, and this is all fed on the place. About 2,000 tons 
or 1.000 spreader loads of manure are secured each year, and this is 
spread on 80 acres of sugar-beet ground. 

The plan of rotation is alfalfa three to six years, sugar beets three 
years, small grain one year, and then back to alfalfa. Small fields 
are in crops such as peas, beans, corn, etc., but these do not affect the 
general rotation. 

The 173 acres of sugar beets averaged about 15 tons per acre, and 
(he average price received was about $6 per ton. 

In the small grains 80 acres of oats averaged a little over 100 
bushels per acre and the 20 acres of wheat upward of 50 bushels 
per acre. 

Beans, grown and sold for use as garden seed, averaged 25 bushels 
per acre for the 10 acres and sold at 7 cents per pound. This is above 
average price, due to extraordinary market conditions. 

Peas averaged 25 bushels per acre for 5 acres. 

Corn, 5 acres, did not mature. 

During the past season 6,000 sheep were bought for feeding and 
were sold as finished from October 1 to April 1. 

Six milch cows are kept ; about 75 head of Poland China hogs are 
raised each year; about 500 chickens are raised for home use; and a 
small band of breeding ewes is kept on the place. 

All straw and roughage is run through the feed lots for feed and 
manure. 

The farm buildings represent about 10 per cent of the value of the 
land and improvements, or $10,000. 

Workmen are paid $40 per month with board, and one foreman 
receives $1,000 per year and board. 

In the interests of brevity many details are omitted, hut I shall be 
pleased to answer inquiries from anyone desiring further informa- 
tion on any point. 



I. 



Caylord Bros. 

Makers 
Syracuse. N. Y, 

PAT. IAN. 21, 1908 



"\ ' . '.-'. '■ ;' 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



0DD5S^SflDD7 



